NRG move to acquire SunEdison assets moves forward, expands to DG

Yesterday a bankruptcy court approved an expedited auction process for 2.1 GW of SunEdison projects, which includes NRG Energy as a “stalking horse” bidder. Under this process bids will need to be submitted by September 6, with a September 9 auction and a September 15 court hearing to approve the sale of the projects.

The projects for sale include 200 MW of “construction ready” PV projects in Texas, which hold power purchase agreements (PPAs), interest in a structured partnership owning 683 MW of “nearly complete” projects in Utah, which also have PPAs, and 1.25 GW of wind and solar projects in various stages of development across the nation.

Under the “stalking horse” bidder agreement, NRG’s bid will set a floor price at under $0.10 per watt.

Additionally, NRG has announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire 26 commercial and municipal solar projects in California, New England and Florida from subsidiaries of SunEdison. This acquisition will not require an auction, as they projects are owned by “non-debtor subsidiaries” of SunEdison and are not involved in the parent company’s bankruptcy.

NRG declined to state the capacity of these 26 projects, which are in “various stages of construction and pre-construction”. The company also declined to state the purchase price.

“We’re looking forward to working with SunEdison to close the transaction, and bring these 26 solar arrays online to complement our renewables fleet serving customers across the U.S.,” NRG Spokesperson Erik Linden told pv magazine.

The DG projects appear destined for NRG’s yieldco. “NRG is uniquely positioned to quickly bring these solar projects into operation and place them into existing financing vehicles — including our strategic partnership with affiliate NRG Yield,” noted Linden.

This is not the only sale of SunEdison assets currently underway. The same bankruptcy court has approved an auction process for a newly bankrupt SunEdison subsidiary in Minnesota. Under this ruling Socore, an affiliate of utility giant Edison International, will serve as the Stalking Horse bidder on 22 commercial and industrial projects in Minnesota.

Additionally, court documents indicate that SunEdison has sold two “development stage utility projects” in California’s Imperial Valley to 8minutenergy and DE Shaw. These documents do not specify the capacity of the projects.

Wall Street Journal puts the value of the Minnesota projects at nearly $80 million. With the $144 million from the NRG sale, this could bring in at least $224 million for SunEdison’s creditors. However, all of the company’s bankruptcy sales are still expected to put it at least $1 billion short of its debts.