MN8 Energy announced it secured $575 million of senior secured notes with Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking. The funds are expected to be used to repay project debt and fund distributions.
The notes are backed by a portfolio of 972 MW of distributed solar and utility-scale solar projects, as well as 75 MW, 300 MWh of battery energy storage systems, collectively named MN8 Portfolio IV.
The portfolio includes 29 project sites across nine states, with “bi-coastal exposure across various weather conditions.” The portfolio is internally managed by MN8 and is supported by “advanced technologies and Tier-1 [original equipment manufacturers and [engineering, procurement, and construction firms.]”
MN8 said it intends to use the net proceeds from the notes to repay project debt and fund a distribution across its broader portfolio. The deal is structured with delayed funding tranches that coincide with project completion milestones.
Along with tax equity contributions, MN8 said this will enable the full refinancing of the $618 million construction bridge financing the company closed in December 2024 for three solar projects totaling 517 MW. MN8 said the structure will allow for subsequent note issuances in 2026 and 2027 as more projects come online.
Natixis served as lead placement agent, ratings advisor and green insurance coordinator for the transaction. Additionally, Societe Generale and HSBC Bank USA served as joint placement agents, CIBC, MUFG Securities Americas Inc., and Texas Capital served as co-placement agents. A letter of credit facility of $145.7 million was provided by Natixis CIB, Societe Generale, and HSBC Bank USA, N.A.
MN8 Energy has about 4 GW of operational and under-construction projects, 1.1 GW of battery energy storage projects, together combining for 874 projects across 29 states. It also has over 40 EV charging stations across 10 states.
Project highlights
The company has a diversified approach to solar project development. In November 2024, MN8 Energy completed the Dry Bridge Solar facility, helping Brown University pursue its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions on campus by 2040.
The project includes four co-located 10 MW solar facilities, all sited on a rehabilitated brownfield in North Kingstown, R.I. The land was previously used for gravel and sand extraction. Installation of the project began in 2021, leading to the installation of 117,210 solar panels and planting of native vegetation for pollinators on the brownfield site.
The project is expected to provide roughly two-thirds of the university’s electricity needs, providing power to its 231 campus buildings. Located on a 240-acre field at the site of a former gravel pit, Dry Bridge is among the state’s highest-capacity contiguous solar generation projects, on track to generate 66.8 million kWh of power annually.
In December 2024, MN8 Energy participated an arrangement in which the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts entered the nation’s largest-ever municipal virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA), committing to purchase the renewable energy credits (RECs) associated with a solar facility in Champaign County, Illinois.
VPPAs are financial agreements that enable businesses and organizations to buy RECs associated with a specific project that is not necessarily on the same regional grid, without having to arrange physical delivery of generated electricity from the site.
Under a VPPA, the project owner, in this case MN8 Energy, liquidates the energy at market pricing and passes the revenue through to the offtaker, which in this case is the City of Cambridge.
The City of Cambridge committed to a VPPA for 50 MW of the 135 MW Prairie Solar project in Illinois. The city’s portion of the project is expected to generate 113,000 MWh of clean energy annually, enough to cover the average electricity consumption of more than 25,000 Cambridge households.
Boston-based Sustainability Roundtable, Inc. facilitated the City of Cambridge’s transaction through their Net Zero Consortium for Buyers.
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