8minute Solar Energy, the largest independent solar and storage developer in the United States, has sold the equity interests of the 67-megawatt-dc Lotus Solar Farm in Madera County, Calif., to Allianz Global Investors.
The acquisition is the first United States solar project purchased by the U.S. Infrastructure Equity team at Allianz.
8minute has signed a 20-year PPA with Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the nation’s leaders in renewable energy, for the more than 125 million kWh produced annually when the project is complete — enough energy to power more than 12,000 Southern California households.
“California and Southern California Edison continue to lead the transition to 100 percent clean energy and that leadership is attracting investments from all across the world,” said Tom Buttgenbach, president and CEO of 8minute Solar Energy. “In addition, the Lotus Solar Farm offers a perfect example of how solar provides landowners the opportunity to earn reliable revenue while repurposing water constrained, low-productivity agricultural land.”
Armin Sandhoevel, CIO of infrastructure equity at Allianz added, “As an experienced investor in the global renewable infrastructure sector, we’re excited by the current transformation of the U.S. generation fleet towards renewable sources of power. The acquisition of the Lotus Solar Farm directly supports our mission to actively invest in the future of the United States energy landscape by owning high-quality renewable power projects that promote a positive environmental impact.”
The Lotus Solar Farm is being constructed on 375 acres of low-productivity former grazing land. The solar farm will produce enough energy for more than 12,000 local homes and businesses once complete and will reduce carbon emissions by approximately 48,000 metric tons each year.
The project’s development and construction are also expected to create 300 peak union jobs in Madera County during construction. CIT and NORD LB are providing a construction loan, letter of credit and term loan facility for the project.
Construction began in August and will be completed in May 2020. Signal Energy is providing the engineering, procurement and construction services for Lotus. Key suppliers will include NEXTracker with its NX Horizon™ smart solar tracker and TMEIC with 14 of their Ninja 4200 central inverters.
