Energy

SunEdison California Solar Project Gets $145 Million Financing From Google

Solar Farm Desert
Source: Thinkstock
In an announcement released Wednesday morning, SunEdison Inc. (NYSE: SUNE) said that Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) has agreed to provide $145 million in equity financing for the Regulus solar power plant to be built in Kern County, Calif. SunEdison contributed the project to TerraForm Power Inc. (NASDAQ: TERP) when TerraForm came public in late July.

According to an SEC filing made before TerraForm’s initial public offering, the Regulus project was financed with a $44 million development loan and $120 million in non-recourse construction financing, which is expected to be repaid with tax equity and term financing proceeds prior to completion.

The Regulus project is a 737-acre 82-megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant that will use more than 248,000 of SunEdison’s solar PV modules. The power generated by the plant has been purchased by Southern California Edison under a 20-year power-purchase agreement.

SunEdison designed, financed and is constructing the plant that is scheduled to begin operation later this year. TerraForm is a “yieldco,” a company formed to hold the cash-generating assets of SunEdison’s clean energy assets. The Regulus project represents about 10% of the assets SunEdison contributed to TerraForm.

This agreement represents the 17th renewable energy investment project for Google, which has signed agreements to fund more than $1.5 billion in renewable energy investments across three continents with a total planned capacity of more than 2,500 megawatts.

Shares of SunEdison traded more than 4.5% higher in Wednesday’s premarket, at $20.84 in a 52-week range of $7.13 to $24.35.

TerraForm stock was unchanged, having closed at $31.83 on Tuesday. The stock’s post-IPO range is $29.01 to $34.34. The IPO price was $25 a share and the shares closed their first day of trading more than 30% above the IPO price.

ALSO READ: Merrill Lynch Says Solar Demand to Soar Over Next 3 Years

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