23 January 2019
Cubico Sustainable Investments (Cubico), a global leader and investor in renewable energy, has announced that it has agreed to acquire five solar projects totalling 580MW from Cypress Creek Renewables (CCR), located in South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas.
Ricardo Díaz, Head of Americas at Cubico, said: “We are very proud of having reached this ground-breaking milestone to enter the U.S. market that further consolidates Cubico in the Americas, after having created one of the leading renewable energy platforms in Latin America. We now plan to continue consolidating our presence in the market supporting developers to achieve their clean energy ambitions in the country.”
The first project in the portfolio to start construction is Palmetto, located near Orangeburg, South Carolina, which reached financial close at the end of December 2018. U.S. Bank provided the tax equity and HSBC & National Australia Bank provided the construction financing and back leverage.
The remaining four projects will all reach financial close throughout the first half of 2019 immediately prior to the start of construction. In addition to the tax equity and debt, Cubico will invest up to US$ 165 million of equity to construct all the projects in the portfolio with them all becoming operational by Q4 2020.
Oliver Alexander, Head of USA at Cubico, added: “We are delighted to have closed this large-scale portfolio acquisition with a leading developer like CCR, it gives Cubico a diversified U.S. solar market presence across multiple states and a range of offtake structures. We look forward to working closely with CCR on taking the projects through financing and construction and into operations.”
“U.S. Bank is excited to begin a relationship with Cubico and be a part of its expansion in the U.S. with this first project in South Carolina,” said Jon Peeples, vice president with U.S. Bank and business development officer with the U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corp., the tax credit division of U.S. Bank. CCR is undertaking the ongoing Development, EPC and O&M services.
