BayWa r.e. secures tax equity and construction financing for 133.6 MW Fern Solar project in Edgecombe County

BayWa r.e. has secured tax equity and construction financing for its Fern Solar project in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. RBC Capital Markets syndicated a tax equity investment commitment in the project and the lender group comprised of Rabobank, Coordinating Lead Arranger, and Banco Sabadell, Joint Lead Arranger, have committed to providing construction and term financing.

The VPPA, facilitated by LevelTen Energy, brought together Bloomberg, Cox Enterprises, Gap Inc, Salesforce, and Workday, creating the Corporate Renewable Energy Aggregation Group and contracted a total of 42.5 MW from Fern’s output. This was supplemented later in 2019 with the announcement that Starbucks had entered into a VPPA with BayWa r.e. for 46 MW. Construction of the 133.6 MW solar farm is already underway and is due for completion in the summer of 2020, with full commissioning anticipated in H2 2020.

Once completed, the Fern asset will comprise 353,276 solar panels and 42 inverters and will produce enough electricity to power nearly 20,000 homes.