Longroad Energy announced financial close and commencement of construction of Umbriel Solar, a 202 MWdc (150 MWac) PV project located in Polk County, Texas.
Umbriel is Longroad’s sixth greenfield renewable energy project in Texas to reach financial close and is the company’s first project in Texas’s MISO footprint. Development of Umbriel began in 2017, and the project is expected to reach commercial operations by the end of this year.
Umbriel’s total output, enough to power more than 30,000 homes, will be purchased by Entergy Texas (ETI) via a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA).
“Umbriel Solar marks a major milestone, as it will be our first solar resource to come online, further diversifying our portfolio,” said Abigail Weaver, Entergy Texas director of resource planning and market operations.
The debt facilities were provided by Zions Capital Markets as a Coordinating Lead Arranger and Administrative Agent, Silicon Valley Bank as a Coordinating Lead Arranger, and Rabobank as a Joint Lead Arranger. Longroad separately arranged tax equity for Umbriel.
The project will be constructed by McCarthy Building Companies. During construction, Umbriel is projected to employ close to 300 people.
The major project vendors include:
Series 6/6+ modules from First Solar
PV inverters from Power Electronics
Trackers from Nextracker
Operations and maintenance services will be provided by NovaSource and by Longroad’s affiliate Longroad Energy Services
Umbriel is expected to cut 250,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually, the equivalent of taking approximately 55,000 gasoline-powered cars off the road for each year that the project is operating.
During operations, the project is projected to generate over $9 million for the Livingston Independent School District (LISD), and over $4 million in tax revenue to Polk County.