GIG provided debt financing for an innovative battery-based energy storage project in Southern California. It is the project’s third debt financing and will fund the completion of its construction. The financing funds construction of an additional 97 MWh portfolio and, once fully constructed, will complete a 63 MW / 340 MWh project for Southern California Edison (SCE) of behind-the-meter, battery storage systems located in grid-constrained pockets of the West Los Angeles Basin service territory. CIT Group, which led the initial financing through its Power and Energy Finance unit, was also the lead lender in the second financing in December and this financing, which was joined by Rabobank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and ING. Macquarie acquired the original portfolio from AMS in August 2016 and together Macquarie and AMS have been jointly developing and constructing it. The project’s first debt financing in 2017 was a first-of-its kind non-recourse project financing of distributed battery-based energy storage systems. The fleet of energy storage systems, which are located at various large-load commercial, industrial and government host sites in Los Angeles and Orange counties, will be used for utility grid services including flexible and reserve capacity, solar integration and voltage management in addition to retail energy services such as demand management, back up generation and enhanced power quality.
