Financing for Largest Clean Energy Project in U.S. Closes
Pattern Energy closes $11 billion for SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind, to bring expected economic impacts of over $20 billion.
Pattern Energy Group LP (Pattern Energy), a leader in renewable energy and transmission infrastructure, has closed an $11 billion non-recourse financing and begun full construction of SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind, which together is the largest clean energy infrastructure project in U.S. history.
SunZia Transmission is a 550-mile, 525 kV high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission line between central New Mexico and south-central Arizona with the capacity to transport 3,000 MW of clean, reliable, and affordable electricity across Western states. SunZia Transmission will deliver clean power generated by Pattern Energy’s 3,515 MW SunZia Wind facility, the largest wind project in the Western Hemisphere, which is being constructed across Torrance, Lincoln, and San Miguel Counties in New Mexico.
This groundbreaking financing includes an integrated construction loan and letter of credit facility, two separate term facilities, an operating phase letter of credit facility, an innovative tax equity term loan facility and a holding company loan facility.
“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. “We are very grateful to all of our financial partners who are backing SunZia as part of this record-setting project financing. 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. We’d specifically like to thank our shareholders for their support of Pattern’s efforts to deliver this critical project and meaningfully advance the world’s energy transition.”
“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, global head of sustainable energies, CPP Investments. “CPP Investments’ ability to provide a unique combination of flexible capital and deep expertise places us well to support projects like SunZia, which we expect will provide attractive, risk-adjusted returns to the CPP Fund over the long term.”
“We congratulate Hunter and the entire Pattern team on today’s milestone,” said Yakov Tsveig, principal of Riverstone Holdings LLC. “The SunZia project represents the latest, largest and most exciting part of the journey we started with management in the formation of Pattern in 2009 and when we made our first joint investment into New Mexico in 2017. We are grateful for the conviction shown by our numerous financing partners, helping unlock significant value and positioning Pattern for its next stage of growth.”
“This financing is a testament to the commitment of our financing partners to the renewable energy space and to Pattern,” said Daniel Elkort, Executive Vice President at Pattern Energy. “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.”
SunZia Wind and Transmission will employ more than 2,000 workers on-site during construction, including heavy equipment operators, electricians, laborers and others. The project will also utilize the expertise of several industry-leading suppliers and contractors. The EPC Contractor of 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. The wind turbines are being supplied by GE Vernova and Vestas.
SunZia Transmission and Pattern Energy have partnered with the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority (RETA) on the development of the transmission project in New Mexico.