GBN Member Transaction Database

United Wind will install over 160 distributed wind energy systems for residential, agricultural and commercial customers throughout Central and Western New York State, facilitated by a US$4.0 million revolving construction loan from NY Green Bank. United Wind’s systems will foster greater access to renewable energy, while NYGB’s participation will help develop a strong track record for distributed renewable energy construction financings in the State.

Together with U.S. Bank as tax equity provider for the portfolio, NYGB is establishing a precedent financing model for distributed wind and facilitating deployment to establish the scale required to attract future private sector finance providers. The transaction structure utilized is broadly applicable to other new and innovative distributed energy business models where there has been limited scale to date.

GIB and John Laing Group plc committed million of equity to a new GB£138 million renewable energy facility in North East England, developed by Estover Energy. GIB will make a GB£21 million investment in the project, with John Laing investing in a stake worth GB£27 million. Barclays provided the remainder of the funding as debt, 60% of which will be guaranteed by the Danish export credit agency EKF.

The biomass Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plant in Cramlington, Northumberland, will generate 213 GWh of renewable electricity annually – enough to power 52,000 homes. Much of the generated electricity will be purchased by Statkraft under a long-term Power Purchase Agreement, but the area’s thriving pharmaceutical sector, recognised as an essential element of the North East economy, will benefit from its output.

The CEFC loaned AU$40 million to a subsidiary of St George Community Housing to build more than 200 new energy efficient homes and upgrade a portion of its 4,300 existing properties with energy efficient technologies, directly benefiting tenants through lower electricity bills. The new properties will be built to a minimum 4-star Green star rating or a 7-star rating under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS). The loan to SGCH was the first of its kind for the CEFC, demonstrating the potential for a community housing sustainability program.

A US$25.0 million credit facility provided by NY Green Bank will allow Level Solar, a New York-based solar provider that designs and installs systems at no cost to the customer, to materially grow its customer base. By providing renewable power to homeowners through long-term power purchase agreements, Level Solar is expected to reach sufficient scale to attract financing entirely through private markets.

NYGB’s US$25.0 million financial warehouse facility – which could ultimately be upsized to US$50.0 million – provides revolving credit to Level Solar to fund residential solar installations, enabling it to reach thousands of new customers. This transaction type is replicable for other participants in the solar market in New York State – specifically smaller developers with early marketplace success but limited scale to date – providing precedent for further expanding residential renewable energy in the State.

In partnership with Eclipx Group, an established leader in vehicle fleet leasing, fleet management and diversified financial services across Australia and New Zealand, CEFC committed AU$50 million to support the increased uptake of low emissions vehicles by corporate, government and not-for-profit fleet buyers. The AU$50 million package will provide Eclipx corporate, government and not-for-profit fleet buyers with access to favourable loan interest rates when choosing eligible low emissions passenger and light commercial vehicles. The CEFC finance will be available through an Eclipx sponsored, publicly-rated securitisation warehouse, providing a significant demonstration of the potential of alternative funding structures to finance low emissions technologies.

NYGB committed US$20.0 million of subordinated capital to RenewFund Finance to support the extension of up to US$100 million of unsecured EE and RE loans to as many as 12,000 homeowners in NY State. Together with a warehouse line of credit provided by Citi, the capital will finance the purchase of New York State residential energy efficiency loan receivables, as well as a small portion of renewable energy loan receivables.

GFO committed to invest US$3 million in a fund with Shizen Energy Co., Ltd. for a solar projects in Kyushu. This is a solar power fund covering three prefectures in the Kyushu area. It is expected to motivate local companies to generate solar power.

Southend-on-Sea Borough Council was the first local authority in England to secure finance from the GIB to replace its existing streetlights with lower energy alternatives. GIB and its legal advisors Shepherd and Wederburn LLP have standardised the Green Loan investment process to save the public sector time and money in agreeing a financing package for energy efficiency projects.

GIB agreed to provide funding of GB£8.2 million alongside a grant of GB£5.1 million from the Department for Transport (DfT) as part of a GB£13.5 million programme of refurbishments that will see 14,000 lanterns and around 4,000 other pieces of illuminated street furniture, replaced with energy-saving LED alternatives.

CEFC committed up to AU$15 million finance towards the AU$40 million Integrated Solar and Battery Storage project in north-east of Perth in Western Australia. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is supporting the project with AU$20.9 million funding. Leading French renewable energy firm Neoen has acquired the project and is providing equity towards it. A six-year power purchase agreement will enable Sandfire Resources to access the power generated by the solar plant at agreed rates. If the mine continues operating past this point, ARENA funding will be paid back as the plant continues to generate solar energy.

GFO committed to invest US$5 million in a fund with Kagoshima Development Co., Ltd. for a hot renewable power generation projects in Kagoshima. This is the regional fund jointly organized and operated by both local governments and financial institutions to promote renewable energy power generation projects with local companies in Kagoshima.

CEFC loaned AU$4.7 million to Epuron to construct, own and maintain a AU$7 million, 1.8MW solar photovoltaic system at the Ayers Rock Resort. ARENA is also contributing funding.

CEFC provided AU$50 million through Firstmac to fund business and personal asset finance leases and loans to boost the uptake of energy efficient equipment and low emissions and electric vehicles.

Queensland-based Landfill Gas Industries (LGI) is expanding its waste-to-energy operations with finance from CEFC. LGI was one of the successful bidders in the first round of contracts under the Australian Government’s new Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). Up to AU$10 million in CEFC finance will facilitate LGI’s installation of 6 MW of electricity generation using biogas-fired generators at six landfill sites in Southern and Central Queensland. The CEFC finance demonstrates the CEFC’s potential to accelerate projects that abate carbon and are eligible for funding through the ERF.

CEFC provided up to a AU$100 million loan to major energy retailer Origin to assist in its rollout of solar PV for Australian households and business. With Solar as a Service, Origin owns, installs and maintains the rooftop solar systems, and eligible residential and business customers are able to buy the solar energy generated from the solar system at a lower rate than average retail electricity tariffs.

Albion Community Power builds, controls and operates community-scale renewable projects across the UK. It is one of the largest single sources of equity funding available for projects in the sector. GIB and Strathclyde Pension Fund (SPF) and Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) committed GB£50 million, GB£10 million and GB£10 million respectively to ACP in 2015. The finance will be used to provide equity funding of between GB£1 million and GB£10 million for a broad range of community-scale renewable construction projects including run-of-river hydro-power, onshore wind on brownfield sites such as industrial estates, and biogas projects including anaerobic digestion and landfill gas.

The pipeline will be built in partnership with project developers such as Infinite Renewables, based in Bridgend, Wales, and Green Highland Renewables, based in Perth, Scotland. ACP’s objective is to create a portfolio of small, decentralised renewable generation projects closer to the sources of demand.

CEFC committed up to AU$125 million as cornerstone equity in the High Income Sustainable Office Trust (HISOT), a new AU$400 million wholesale property fund working to improve the energy performance of commercial office properties in major metropolitan markets on the eastern seaboard. Managed by leading real estate fund manager EG, HISOT will buy and refurbish office properties to significantly lift their energy and operating performance. The fund is targeting a portfolio about 12 core Australian commercial properties in major metropolitan office markets on the eastern seaboard.

CEFC provided AU$120 million through the National Australia Bank (NAB) to support a major investment programme to help Australian businesses cut their energy and operating costs and lift business performance. The NAB’s AU$120 million CEFC-supported program, which provides 0.7% pa off equipment finance rate on qualifying assets for the life of the loan, is available across a broad commercial base, with a particular emphasis on agribusiness and regional Australia. The finance supports small and large-scale projects of up to AU$5 million, with the benefits of the CEFC investment flowing directly through to the business operators. Equipment, loan, hire purchase or finance lease options are available as well as tailored repayments to suit cash flows. Typically no deposit is required up front.

GIB acquired a GB£236 million stake in the 400MW Rampion Offshore Wind Farm. The project has been developed by E.ON, which will continue to own the remaining shares in the joint venture. Rampion was constructed 13km off the Sussex coast in the English Channel.

GFO committed to invest US$7 million equity in this woody Biomass project in Akita. A special purpose company was created for the project called “United Renewable Energy Company”.

GFO committed to invest US$5 million equity in this woody Biomass project in Nagano.

GIB financed the first wave of the Glasgow City Council’s plan with GB£6.3 million to replace 70,000 existing streetlights with lower energy, lower cost alternatives.

GIB, Foresight Group and Zouk Capital LLP made equity investments in the construction of the GB£111 million Levenseat Renewable Energy Limited 12.3 MW energy from waste (EfW) plant and adjacent Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) at Forth by Lanark, Scotland. GIB provided an additional GB£10.3 million to the Foresight UKWREI fund (in which GIB is a cornerstone investor) to allow the fund to invest GB£28.3 million in the GB£111 million project.

The project is also backed by an equity investment from Levenseat Limited and senior debt from Investec Bank plc. The MRF will recover plastics, metals, paper and card for recycling. The project is forecast to recycle over a million tonnes of materials over its lifetime and will generate the heat required by the MRF.

GIB made a GB£240 million investment in the UK’s offshore wind sector by purchasing a 20 per cent stake from Statkraft and Statoil in Scira Offshore Energy Limited (Scira), the owner of Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm, for an agreed valuation of GB£240 million. The 317 MW offshore wind farm has been operating for two years in the Greater Wash area, between 17 and 23 kilometres off the coast of Norfolk.

The investment is part of a wider strategy, led by GIB, to strengthen the UK offshore wind sector by allowing developers to recycle capital into new projects and by attracting new investors into the sector. GIB’s stake in the wind farm was subsequently acquired by the GIB Financial Services-managed offshore wind fund in April 2015

GFO committed to invest US$0.35 million equity in this small hydro project in Niigata.

GFO committed to invest US$6 million in a fund with Mirai Energy Partners Inc. for hydro projects in Japan. This Mirai Hydro Power Limited Partnership Fund is to invest in the renewal of nationwide local hydropower generation owned by manufactuers and local governments.