Community solar developer adds project debt for 24.8 MW newly completed projects

OYA Renewables, a community solar developer, secured a senior secured term loan facility and credit extensions for four New York community solar projects that recently completed construction in New York state.

The company secured $27.1 million in loan commitments from City National Bank (CNB) and Greenprint Capital, an addition to the $216 million in debt backing the construction of a slate of 15 community solar development projects throughout New York State, part of its 2023 pipeline.

“As our community solar project pipeline continues to see significant growth within New York State and beyond, having robust financial backing from CNB allows us to focus our attention squarely on efficient and effective project execution,” said Manish Nayar, chairman and founder of OYA Renewables.

The funds from CNB and Greenprint were used to complete the term conversion of the four projects:

• Robinson Road (6.7 MWdc, Jefferson County, N.Y.)  The 6.7 MWdc solar farm in Orleans, N.Y., is expected to generate 10.49 million kWh of clean energy annually, the equivalent of offsetting an estimated 7,400 metric tons of carbon and providing enough clean energy to power over 1,400 households annually. The project is located on 36 acres of land in National Grid’s Jefferson County service territory. According to NY-Sun, Jefferson County currently has 127.1 MW of installed solar capacity, with about 42.2 MW installed each year. The county enjoys a $1.04 per watt cost of solar energy, lower than the state average of $1.98/W
• Wayside Drive (6.7 MWdc, Jefferson County, N.Y.)  The 6.7 MWdc solar farm is expected to generate approximately 10.65 million kWh of clean energy annually, the equivalent of offsetting an estimated 7,500 metric tons of carbon and providing enough clean energy to power over 1,400 households annually. The project is located in Pamelia, N.Y., on 38 acres of land in National Grid’s service territory.
• State Route 122 LLC (6.8 MWdc, Franklin County, N.Y.)  The 6.8 MWdc solar farm is expected to generate 10.33 million kWh of clean energy annually, the equivalent of offsetting an estimated 7,300 metric tons of carbon and providing enough clean energy to power over 1,400 households annually. The project is located in Constable, N.Y. on 31 acres of land in Avangrid utility NYSEG’s service territory.  Located in the Adirondack Park region, Franklin County has 15.1 MW of installed solar capacity as of Q1 23, with 6.84 MW installed in 2022. The northern region county enjoyed a $1.17/W local cost of solar in 2022, compared to the state average of $1.81/W.
• Pulaski LLC (4.6 MWdc, Oswego County, N.Y.)  The 4.6 MWdc solar farm is expected to generate 7.63 million kWh of clean energy annually, the equivalent of offsetting an estimated 5,400 metric tons of carbon and providing enough clean energy to power over 1,000 households annually. The project is located on 24 acres of land in Oswego County, N.Y. in National Grid service territory. According to NY-Sun, Oswego County has 27.4 MW of installed solar capacity with about 8 MW installed in 2022. The county enjoyed a $1.36/W local cost of solar in 2022 versus the state average of $1.81/W.

On March 1, OYA Renewables secured  $145 million in construction-to-term loan financing from CIT Power and Energy, Amalgamated Bank, Siemens Financial Services, Comerica Bank and Cadence Bank. An additional $71 million of the $216 million project financing was tax equity via Monarch Private Capital (MPC).  The funding commitment encompassed the company’s 2023 project development pipeline financing needs.

This week, Toronto, Ontario-based OYA Renewables said its multi-year project pipeline consists of 9 GW of distributed and utility-scale solar projects across North America, while the company has developed 1.44 GW of solar projects to date. OYA has been certified by both the Canadian Aboriginal and Minority Supplier Council and the New York & New Jersey Minority Supplier Development Council as a diverse supplier.

On March 10, the company procured 19 MW (DC) of single-axis trackers from Polar Racking for three community solar projects: Camillus Site 1 (6.61 MW), Camillus Site 2 (6.64 MW) and Vernon Site 1 (5.93 MW), also in New York state.  Polar Racking will supply its new terrain-following Axsus series single-axis tracker for the upcoming construction of the projects.