Pattern Energy ties in huge $11bn financing package for 'largest US clean energy infrastructure project' yet

Pattern Energy, a US provider of renewable energy and transmission infrastructure, has closed a $11bn financing package for its SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind projects, described jointly as "the largest clean energy infrastructure project in US history".

The non-recourse financing package will underpin both the 3.52GW wind project now under construction across three counties in New Mexico and also SunZia Transmission's 550 mile (885 km) high voltage direct current transmission line between New Mexico and south-central Arizona.

The SunZia Transmission project will provide 3GW of capacity to transport clean electricity from what Albuquerque-headquartered Pattern Energy describes as the largest wind project in the Western Hemisphere.

“Our hope is this successful financing of the largest clean energy infrastructure project in American history serves as an example for other ambitious renewable infrastructure initiatives that are needed to accelerate our transition to a carbon free future,” said Hunter Armistead, CEO of Pattern Energy.

“Construction is well underway on this historic project that will deliver clean power with a generation profile that complements abundant solar generation available across the Western United States."

For the $8.8bn construction and term facilities, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, CoBank, ACB, Desjardins Group, Export Development Canada, ING Capital, Intesa Sanpaolo, KFW IPEX-Bank, MUFG Bank, Ltd., National Bank of Canada, Natixis, Societe Generale and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking were among the lead managers.

A $2.25bn equity term loan facility for monetising tax credit attributes had Banco Santander as coordinating lead manager, backed by Bank of America, GE Vernova’s financial services business, Natixis and Royal Bank of Canada.

Nomura Securities and a subsidiary of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) participated in the final piece of the financing, a holding company facility to support initial equity capital for the project.

“SunZia represents an important step forward in the global transition to renewable energy and we are pleased to support Pattern as it works to bring this project toward completion,” said Bill Rogers, managing director, and global head of sustainable energies at CPP Investments.

Daniel Elkort,executive vice president at Pattern Energy added: "This financing is a testament to the commitment of our financing partners to the renewable energy space and to Pattern,

“The size and scale of both the SunZia project and this multifaceted financing show that the renewable energy space can secure attractive capital at levels previously only seen in traditional generation.”

The engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the transmission line is Quanta Infrastructure Services Group and the HVDC supplier is Hitachi Energy.

The EPC contractor for the wind project is Blattner Energy, a Quanta affiliated company, while the wind turbines are being supplied by Vestas and GE Vernova, according to Pattern Energy.

The Vestas order announced on Wednesday includes supply, delivery, and commissioning of the turbines, as well as a multi-year service agreement, designed to ensure optimised turbine performance.

Pattern Energy describes itself as one of the world’s largest privately-owned developers and operators of wind, solar, transmission, and energy storage projects.

Its operational portfolio includes 30 renewable energy facilities with an operating capacity of nearly 6GW across North America.