EGN NEWS DESK
Renewable power developer BrightNight simply closed a $440 million strategic funding from banking large Goldman Sachs.
The fairness funding will assist Florida-based BrightNight construct out its pipeline of utility-scale photo voltaic and power storage tasks, which collectively characterize 31 gigawatts of fresh energy, the corporate introduced on Monday. Among these tasks is the 810-megawatt photo voltaic set up Starfire, slated for an previous mining website in japanese Kentucky.
The large “coal to photo voltaic” mission is getting underway as Kentucky officers search to scale the state’s paltry clear power capability to draw main industrial producers. Century Aluminum, for example, has mentioned it’s contemplating constructing a inexperienced smelter within the Appalachian state — however the remaining resolution depends upon whether or not Century can safe a regular provide of reasonably priced, carbon-free electrical energy to run the huge new facility.
BrightNight, which was based in 2019, develops, builds, and operates massive renewables tasks throughout the United States and the Asia-Pacific area. In 2022, the corporate closed on a $500 million funding from Global Infrastructure Partners and its co-investors, which can proceed to fund the development fairness wants of BrightNight’s tasks.
The new funding from Goldman Sachs will assist BrightNight additional pursue its independent-power-producer enterprise mannequin and advance its portfolio, with the purpose of “delivering cutting-edge clear energy tasks to serve our clients throughout the U.S,” Martin Hermann, BrightNight’s chair and CEO, mentioned in a press launch.
BrightNight additionally mentioned this week that it’ll “upsize” its company credit score facility from $375 million to $400 million, which can give the developer the required balance-sheet assist to execute on its U.S. mission portfolio, in response to the corporate.
Construction is already underway on a kind of tasks: the 300 MW photo voltaic set up Box Canyon in Pinal County, Arizona, which is scheduled to come back on-line within the second quarter of 2025. Two huge solar-plus-battery-storage tasks are beneath growth in Washington state, and BrightNight lately secured approval to construct one other hybrid system in Victoria, Australia.
In Kentucky, BrightNight is creating the $1 billion Starfire set up in addition to the 240 MW Gage Solar Project and 125 MW Ragland Solar Project, each within the western a part of the state. If all three tasks are constructed as deliberate, they’ll enhance the quantity of photo voltaic presently put in in Kentucky by greater than sixfold.
