The company will use the capital to fund the construction and operations of five projects. Plus Power has a rapidly growing portfolio of large-scale lithium-ion battery systems in more than 25 states and Canada , and the company is executing on 10 gigawatts of interconnection capacity now in transmission interconnection queues.
The announcement includes Plus Power's $707 million financing for the 250 megawatt Sierra Estrella Energy Storage facility in Avondale, Arizona , west of Phoenix . It will be the largest to date for a standalone energy storage project. The 11-acre footprint of the Sierra Estrella project allows the project to be sited without attached generation, closer to load.
The announced transactions are also supporting construction of 700 megawatts of batteries on the ERCOT grid in Texas . Three new Plus Power battery plants will begin operation next summer to handle increased demand amid increasingly extreme temperatures and numerous days of scarce operating reserves on the power grid.
The financing commitments cover five projects totaling 1,040 megawatts of capacity (or 2,760 megawatt-hours). The transactions will support both construction and operations of the portfolio and include construction financing, term financing, letters of credit, and tax equity investments, in partnership with 11 leading industry lenders and investors.
The size and breadth of the financings by leading institutions – and the projects' geographic and revenue structure diversity – highlights the variety of services and value that well-sited standalone energy storage can offer power markets.
"Over the last year, Plus Power has raised an unparalleled amount of capital for standalone storage projects from a wide range of leading energy project finance banks and investors," said Josh Goldstein , chief financial officer of Plus Power.
"This capital will support the ongoing buildout of the largest and most diverse portfolio of standalone storage projects in the US The scale highlights our first-mover advantage in bringing high-quality projects to market as well as the tremendous work by our fantastic team."
Goldstein added, "We deeply value our financing partners who support the construction and operation of our wide portfolio across the US, enabling decarbonization and the transition to a more efficient grid."
The Sierra Estrella project was one of two Plus Power landmark project financings in Arizona that totaled $903 million and 340 MW / 1,360 MWh. Both projects have 20-year energy storage services agreements with Salt River Project and are under construction, aiming to be online by the second quarter of 2024 in time for another summer of anticipated record peak demand.
Norddeutsche Landesbank and Société Générale acted as coordinating lead arrangers while Mizuho, US Bank, Bank of America, CoBank, and Siemens Financial Services, Inc. were joint lead arrangers. The financings include:
