US Solar Fund, the London-listed infrastructure investment fund focused on the Americas, is investing in four solar power projects in Oregon.
US Solar Fund said following an exclusivity agreement in February, it has now agreed to buy the cash equity interests in the 61MWDC portfolio from Southern Current.
All four projects in the portfolio will sell their electricity output under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Portland General Electric.
US Solar Fund said it will fund the acquisition with $23m (€21m) of cash on hand and $43m in long-term bank debt.
The latest deal is the fifth acquisition for US Solar Fund, which raised $200m on the London Stock Exchange in April last year.
In January, the company bought a 177MW portfolio of projects as its fourth acquisition.
The company said it intends to use the remaining 15% of its fundraising proceeds for further acquisitions or to partially pay down its fourth acquisition’s existing project-level debt.
US Solar Fund may also consider raising equity for a full paydown and re-financing of the fourth acquisition’s existing project-level debt.
Gillian Nott, chair of US Solar Fund, said the latest acquisition lifts the total portfolio to 41 projects in four states, all with long-term investment grade offtakers.
“The near-complete construction stage of this acquisition means these assets will begin generating cashflow for investors almost immediately and, once they are commissioned, over 60% of the company’s portfolio will be fully operational.”
Liam Thomas, CIO of US Solar Fund’s investment manager New Energy Solar Manager, said: “With the addition of these four solar plants, the US Solar Fund portfolio grows to a capacity of 443MWDC with a weighted average power purchase agreement term of over 15.4 years.
During these challenging global times, long-term PPAs with contracted price growth such as this latest project, can deliver cashflow stability to investors.
