Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The AES Corporation’s US-based clean energy business announced on November 11 that it has entered into a $1.7 billion warehouse credit facility advancing the construction of 3 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy projects across nine states.

This financing arrangement is the largest construction warehouse facility for domestic renewable projects and builds on the initial $700 million warehouse credit facility established in January 2022.

AES’ clean energy business will use the proceeds to fund the construction of solar, solar plus storage, wind, and standalone battery storage projects. These are expected to be completed and begin operation within the next three years.

The projects are already contracted to deliver clean energy to a number of customers.

AES’ US renewables portfolio currently includes 4.7 GW of operating assets and 5.2 GW of projects with signed power purchase agreements, which are either under construction today or will start construction in the coming years.

James Marshall, Chief Financial Officer for AES’ clean energy business, said, “This financing arrangement will allow us to build out our current and future backlog of clean generation projects across the US.

“The financing arrangement will allow us to ramp up the construction of our clean energy projects in several key states that include a diverse portfolio of assets and technologies.”

James Wright, head of US project finance and Infrastructure at CIBC, said, “CIBC is proud to support our clients’ sustainability ambitions, providing AES’ clean energy team with capital to support its continued growth in the coming years.”

CIBC arranged the transaction and served as administrative agent for the three-year credit facility. In addition to CIBC, the financing included 17 other creditors: Cadence Bank, Credit Agricole, DNB, HSBC, KeyBank, Mizuho, MUFG, National Bank of Canada, Natixis, Santander, Silicon Valley Bank, Societe Generale, Standard Chartered, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Truist Bank, Wells Fargo and Zions Bank.

Sridhar Nagarajan, head of project export finance for Europe and Americas, Standard Chartered, said, “This $1.7 billion transaction shows our commitment to helping our clients reach their clean energy goals.”