ET Solar’s subsidiary, ET Solar Australia Pty Ltd, announced that it has reached agreement on a A$20 million debt financing facility with Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) for its business development in the Australian commercial solar market.
ET Solar will provide up to A$13.3 million in equity, while the CEFC will provide up to A$20 million in senior debt, which will enable the construction of commercial Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) driven solar projects. The debt will be used to fund the build-up of solar systems being developed and to be owned by ET Solar.
In these efforts, ET Solar will own and operate solar systems ranging between 30KW and 2MW in size with various commercial users. These commercial power users will enter into PPAs with ET Solar at pre-agreed rates over a 10 to 20-year time horizon to benefit from lower utility costs as the PPA prices are meaningfully lower than the current electricity prices.
"The PPA model has proven highly successful on a global basis. And specifically in Australia, the commercial PPA market has a strong potential to grow and deepen," CEFC CEO Oliver Yates said. "We see the ET Solar commercial PPA model as a way to remove the barrier of the up-front capital requirement which should enable many more Australian businesses to benefit from the lower cost and environment friendly solar energy."
"We established our Australian subsidiary last year to develop our solution business in this exciting market," Dennis She, President and CEO of ET Solar, noted. "CEFC financing will greatly facilitate the rollout of ET Solar's PPA model and help the local commercial sector significantly reduce their electricity costs."