November 15, 2023: Renewables firm Arevon Energy said on November 8 it had secured a financing deal including $191 million in US tax credits for a solar-BESS project in California.
Financing for the Vikings solar and storage project was completed using a combination of debt financing and tax credit transfer.
An additional debt facility of $338 million was financed by financial institutions including MUFG, BNP Paribas, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, First Citizens Bank and National Bank of Canada.
The Vikings project features 157MWDC of solar coupled with 150MW/600MWh of battery storage to help support grid stability in San Diego starting in late 2024.
Arevon CEO Kevin Smith said Vikings, one of the US’ first solar peaker plants, had become one of the country’s first utility-scale solar-plus-storage projects involving transferable income tax credit and renewable energy production credit transactions since the introduction of subsidies for the battery and clean energy sectors under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which became law in August 2022.
The IRA’s transferability tax credit provision allows for the simplified transfer of tax credits from project owners to profitable taxpayers.
Smith said: “Vikings has been a landmark project from its inception.”
Tesla is supplying the facility’s utility-scale batteries, which allow the solar energy generated to be directed to the grid during peak demand, powering up to 50,000 homes.
Commercial operations are scheduled for the third quarter of 2024.
Photo: Groundbreaking ceremony for Vikings in March 2023