SOLAR INVESTMENTS - FROM FUNDINGS TO PARTNERSHIPS & ACQUISITIONS: WEEK 3

Italy’s Enel Green Power sells India RE portfolio to Waaree Energies; Hemlock Semiconductor bags $325 million under US CHIPS Act; Germany’s IB Vogt offloading Greek Renewable Energy portfolio. All these and more in our TaiyangNews - All About Solar Weekly Solar PV Investment Updates.

This is a weekly newsletter to keep you updated on the latest developments in solar investments, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and public offerings within the solar industry. These are select stories that have been published on our website. Subscribe to weekly updates for the top stories from TaiyangNews. Visit https://taiyangnews.info/ for all the news on solar.

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FUNDING

Linea Energy raises financing: EnCap Investments-backed renewable energy focused developer and independent power producer (IPP) in the US Linea Energy has closed project debt financing for its 109 MW DC utility-scale solar project. The undisclosed loan amount comprises a construction-to-term loan, a tax equity bridge loan, and a letter of credit facility for its Pineview project in Wilcox County, Georgia. The financing has been provided by a syndicate of lenders led by First Citizens Bank and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB).

$340 million for Nevada project: US Estuary Power, an energy generation and storage projects company from Nevada, has secured a $340 million financing package for its 185 MW solar PV and 400 MWh Escape Solar and Storage Project. It is located in Lincoln County, Nevada, and will come online in 2025. Bechtel Infrastructure and Power Corporation is currently constructing the project using JinkoSolar’s TOPCon modules while Tesla is installing its BESS. Of the total project capacity, Estuary says 115 MW solar and 400 MWh of BESS capacity is contracted to be supplied to MGM Resorts International, 25 MW to Overton Power District, 25 MW to Caesars Entertainment, and 20 MW to Wynn Las Vegas under long-term agreements. The project financing includes a tax equity commitment from Morgan Stanley Renewables, a tax equity bridge loan by First Citizens Bank & Trust Company, NORD/LB, and the National Bank of Canada. It also includes a construction-to-term facility provided by Denham Capital on behalf of its clients.

Hemlock Semiconductor bags $325 million under US CHIPS Act: The sole US-owned manufacturer of hyper-pure polysilicon, Hemlock Semiconductor (HSC), has bagged $325 million in direct funding from the US Department of Commerce to construct its new facility as the government backs initiatives to establish vertical integration of the solar PV supply chain.?This funding has been awarded under the US government’s CHIPS Incentives Program’s Funding Opportunity for Commercial Fabrication facilities. The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 was signed into US law to strengthen local manufacturing and supply chains of next-generation industries, including nanotechnology, clean energy, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence. ?For the complete story, click here.

JOINT VENTURE

JinkoSolar and Shijing New Energy JV approved: The Sichuan Development and Reform Commission has approved the energy-saving report for a high-efficiency solar wafer and cell manufacturing base by Shijing New Energy, a joint venture between Shijing Technology (90%) and JinkoSolar (10%). It includes the construction of a 20 GW n-type cell facility and a 20 GW monocrystalline wafer line in Ziyang City, Sichuan Province, along with byproducts such as 1,000 tons of ammonia and 1,796 tons of calcium fluoride annually. With a total investment of RMB 4.11 billion ($578.36 million), the first phase is set to complete by December 2025, and the second by December 2026. In March 2024, Shijing Technology announced that its subsidiary SJEF Solar signed a solar cell procurement contract with JinkoSolar to supply approximately 2.5 billion monocrystalline solar cells/A-grade cells between January 2024 and December 2025.

ACQUISITION

Italy’s Enel Green Power sells India RE portfolio to Waaree Energies: Indian solar PV manufacturer and independent power producer (IPP) Waaree Energies Limited has acquired the Indian business unit of Italy’s Enel Green Power (EGP) for INR 7.92 billion ($91.7 million) under a share purchase agreement.?Enel Green Power Development has agreed to sell EGP India to Waaree with its total solar and wind energy portfolio of 760 MW DC/ 640 MW AC. The deal includes joint ventures where EGP India is the majority stakeholder. EGP India also has close to 2.5 GW of additional capacity in the pipeline, spread across the country.?For the complete story, click here.

EQT to acquire distributed generation company Scale Microgrids: Swedish private equity player EQT is set to acquire North American distributed generation (DG) company Scale Microgrids, making this its maiden investment in the region under the Transition Infrastructure Strategy since its launch in December 2024.?Scale Microgrids designs, builds, finances, owns and operates microgrids and distributed energy assets across North America, including for commercial and industrial, electric vehicles, data centers, agricultural customers, universities, and hospitals, among others. It operates in the space of solar, battery storage, natural gas generators, fuel cells, and combined heat and power.??For the complete story, click here.

Algonquin offloads RE division: North American power and energy infrastructure company LS Power has completed the acquisition of Algonquin Power & Utilities renewable energy business. With the close of this transaction, LS Power has established a new company called Clearlight Energy with more than 3 GW of wind and solar capacity between the US and Canada. Clearlight Energy is led by the former President of Renewables at Algonquin, Jeff Norman as the CEO. Clearlight is also acquiring 1.8 GW of Algonquin’s 8 GW renewable and storage development pipeline. Additionally, LS Power subsidiary REV Renewables will acquire the remaining 6.2 GW of Algonquin’s pipeline, adding it to the company’s existing 2.9 GW of operational wind, solar, and battery energy storage systems (BESS) capacity, expanding the development pipeline to more than 21 GW. The transaction closed on January 8, 2025.

888 MW solar and storage project: UK-headquartered ContourGlobal has acquired an 888 MW solar and storage project in the US. It will be developed in 2 phases of 567 MW solar PV and 321 MW/1.3 GWh of BESS as a hybrid project. The project will soon start the procurement and commercialization process in Arizona. It is scheduled to achieve initial commercial operations by 2028. This project marks the company’s entry into the Western US.

TCL TZE acquires equity in subsidiary: Solar PV manufacturer TCL TZE (previously TCL Zhonghuan) has announced plans to acquire equity in its subsidiary Zhonghuan Crystal from 2 investment institutions. The company will purchase BOCOM Investment’s 13.69% stake in Zhonghuan Crystal for RMB 1 billion ($136.5 million) and 10.95% from CCB Investment for RMB 800 million ($109.2 million). With these purchases, TCL TZE will increase its stake (direct and indirect) in Zhonghuan Crystal to 83.96%. Zhonghuan Crystal primarily engages in the manufacturing and sales of solar silicon ingots and related products.

DIVESTMENT

Germany’s IB Vogt offloading Greek Renewable Energy portfolio: Germany-headquartered global renewable energy developer ib vogt is selling its around 780 MW strong solar PV and battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio in Greece to renewables independent power producer (IPP) and developer Faria Renewables, for an undisclosed amount.?The 780 MW ib vogt portfolio also includes a 45 MW solar farm currently under construction. Financed by a local Greek bank, the project is scheduled to be completed in H2 2025. It will be spread across 3 municipality of Almyros. Rest of the assets are in various stages of development. For the complete story, click here.

Qcells buying 4 solar projects: Canada-headquartered clean energy company SolarBank Corporation will sell 4 of its ground-mounted solar PV projects under development to Qcells, a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Solutions. The projects are located in upstate New York with a combined 25.57 MW capacity and operated as community solar facilities on completion. Qcells will purchase the 4 projects for close to $49.5 million.

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