Innergex achieves financial close of its 225 MW Griffin Trail wind project in Texas

Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. has achieved the closing of a construction financing and tax equity commitment for its Griffin Trail project, a 225 MW wind facility located in Knox and Baylor Counties, in north-west Texas.

The US$276.2 million financing has been arranged with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation acting as Coordinating Lead Arranger, and CIBC acting as Joint Lead Arranger, backed by a US$171.4 million tax equity commitment from Wells Fargo to be provided upon the commercial operation date.

Work on-site commenced in September 2020 and is progressing well with the operations and maintenance building and road construction well underway, and approximately 50% of foundations complete. A construction agreement was executed with Blattner Energy, Inc. and a Turbine Supply Agreement was executed for the supply of GE wind turbines totaling 225 MW with deliveries starting in January 2021. Deliveries of long-lead items have started and the construction of the interconnection point is underway by a local transmission provider.

The total construction costs of the Griffin Trail project are projected to amount to US$284.7 million and its commissioning is scheduled for the third quarter of 2021. The power generated will be fed into the ERCOT transmission grid and sold on the spot market.

The project is expected to produce a gross estimated long-term average of 819.0 GWh per year, enough to power approximately 57,000 Texan households with clean energy, and to benefit from 100% of the US Production Tax Credits, representing US$0.025, indexed to inflation, per KWh of electricity produced for the first 10 years of operations, which is comparable to power purchase agreements with similar tenors from government-backed utilities in Canada. Griffin Trail should generate a projected Adjusted EBITDA of US$4.5 million and a projected Adjusted EBITDA Proportionate with PTCs of approximately US$26.7 million per year on average for the first five years of operation.