TerraForm Power, a global owner and operator of clean energy power plants, has acquired 21 U.S. distributed generation (DG) solar power plants comprising 26 MW from SunEdison through a series of transactions valued at USD$47 million, in cash consideration.
The 21 power plants have long-term contracts with an average remaining life of 20 years. The portfolio has high quality counterparties including municipalities, schools and businesses and is geographically diverse, with plants located in seven US states. These assets are expected to increase annual CAFD by approximately USD$5 million on an unlevered basis.
These distributed generation drop downs advance TerraForm's strategy of transforming how energy is generated, distributed and owned. DG projects are inherently "win-win" for customers, asset owners, and investors. By providing clean electricity directly to end users, customers save on energy, while TerraForm benefits in the form of attractive project returns.
"This transaction furthers TerraForm's leadership in the DG market segment – which is one of the most profitable and fastest growing clean energy market segments," said Carlos Domenech, President and Chief Executive Officer of TerraForm. "In addition, DG is a flow business that delivers consistent growth for our shareholders."
"This accomplishment speaks to the strength of the relationship between TerraForm and SunEdison, and our ability to deliver on shareholder commitments by working together to leverage SunEdison's pipeline and expertise in developing, building and financing projects,” said Brian Wuebbels, Chief Financial Officer at SunEdison. “The sale of these assets generates immediate value for SunEdison by generating cash, and recurring value through SunEdison's ownership of TerraForm."
The acquisition has USD$24 million of tax equity financing secured from Barclays, Citi and JPM Capital, while there are more than 10% unlevered cash-on-cash equity return, according to Terraform Power’s statement.