8minute Solar Energy has significantly upsized its letter of credit (L/C) facility to a total of US$350 million with support from new lenders.

The largest solar developer in the US said last year it had closed a US$225 million L/C facility from a consortium of five banks in a deal that increased its L/C capacity tenfold (DC World News, 18 September 2020).

New financiers

The additional US$125 million in commitments comes from the existing lenders who are joined by Deutsche Bank, Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen and Norddeutsche Landesbank.

The existing lenders are led by CIT Bank as sole coordinating lead arranger with partners KeyBank, HSBC, Rabobank and Nomura Holdings.

Accelerated development

The expanded facility aims to help 8minute accelerate the development of its growing project pipeline, which includes more than 18-gigawatts of solar capacity and 24-gigawatt-hours of storage throughout California, Texas and the Southwestern United States.

The earlier L/C facility was raised so the developer could cost effectively post securities for its power purchase agreements and interconnection agreements.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or Coastline Solutions.