Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. (Innergex) has announced the financial closing and a tax equity commitment for its 225 MW Griffin Trail wind project located in Knox and Baylor Counties, in north-west Texas. The USD 276.2 million financing has been arranged with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation acting as coordinating lead arranger, and CIBC acting as joint lead arranger, backed by a USD 171.4 million tax equity commitment from Wells Fargo to be provided upon the commercial operation date.
The construction of the project commenced in September 2020. A construction agreement was executed with Blattner Energy, Inc. and a turbine supply agreement was signed for the supply of GE wind turbines totaling 225 MW. The delivery of the turbines will start in January 2021. Deliveries of long-lead items have started and the construction of the interconnection point is underway by a local transmission provider.
The total construction cost of the Griffin Trail project is expected to be USD 284.7 million and its commissioning is scheduled for the third quarter of 2021. The power generated from the wind project will be fed into the ERCOT transmission grid and sold on the spot market. Moreover, the project is expected to produce a gross estimated long-term average of 819.0 GWh per year of electricity, enough to power approximately 57,000 Texan households with clean energy.
The tax equity commitment made by Wells Fargo includes a partial pay as you go funding arrangement under which, when the actual annual MWh production exceeds a certain production threshold, the Tax Equity Investor is obligated to make a cash contribution to the Corporation. The annual contribution under this arrangement is expected to be USD 4 million.
“It was only a few months ago, when the US Production Tax Credits deadlines were extended, that we knew we were in a strong position to bring Griffin Trail forward, and we have since made rapid progress on development and construction,” said Michel Letellier, President and Chief Executive Officer of Innergex. “Securing construction financing and tax equity commitment for this project is another milestone, and I want to congratulate all Innergex employees who contributed to this significant team effort,” he added.
