Morning Brief: Illinois’ largest project has a power contract, financing secured for 134 MW in North Carolina

The project set to be the largest in Illinois, the 200 MW Prairie Wolf Solar Project in Coles County, has a power contract. The energy generated by the plant will be bought by Cargill under a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA), once the plant reaches commercial operation, which is anticipated to be by the end of 2021.The contact will help move Cargill towards its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from operations by 10% by 2025. Source: Geronimo Energy

BayWa r.e. has secured tax equity and construction financing for its 134 MW Fern Solar project, located in Edgecombe County, North Carolina. RBC Capital Markets syndicated a tax equity investment commitment, while the construction and term financing was handled by Rabobank, Coordinating and Banco Sabadell. 88.5 MW of the project’s capacity are already under contract, with Starbucks signing a VPPA for 46 MW and Bloomberg, Cox Enterprises, Gap Inc, Salesforce and Workday entering into a VPPA for 42.5 MW. Construction on Fern has already begun, with the project set for completion in the summer of 2020, with full commissioning anticipated in H2 2020. Source: BayWa r.e.

Solis has earned SunSpec rapid shutdown certification and is rolling out its portfolio of certified residential, hybrid and commercial inverters to the U.S. market. The Solis portfolio will be available in the U.S. in Q2 of this year. It includes the 2.5-6kW and 6-10kW single-phase models for the residential market, the three-phase inverter family for the commercial sector (25-40kW and 50-66kW), as well as the hybrid energy storage inverter (5-10kW). SunSpec’s rapid shutdown requirements were developed in accordance with NEC 2017-2020 module-level requirements. Source: Solis

EDF renewables has partnered with Cubic Corporation and will build, own and operate an integrated energy system consisting of solar, storage and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at no up-front cost to Cubic. The installation will be located at Cubic’s Kearny Mesa headquarters campus. The system will be comprised of 962 kW of carport solar; 280 kW (540 kWh) of battery storage; and 50 smart EV charging stations. The EV charging system will be installed by PowerFlex, an EDF Renewables Company. Source: EDF Renewables

NextEra Energy has raised $4 million in COVID-19 emergency assistance in a month. The company and its partners have been raising money since March 17 and the funds are being  distributed to partner organizations working on the frontlines of the COVID-19 crisis. The money is intended to provide critical support to the most vulnerable members of communities. Source: NextEra Energy

Chubby pig drunk off moonshine mash? Chubby pig drunk off moonshine mash.