The Texas-headquartered solar and battery developer said it has completed financing for the construction of a ground-breaking project being built as part of a joint venture with an Israel-based group. San Antonio-based OCI Energy, along with longtime Israeli solar power company Arava Power, said the Project SunRoper solar farm in Wharton County, Texas, represents a $394-million investment. The two companies worked with ING Capital, an international banking group, to secure the financing. The first project is a joint venture between three companies, and the second is between OCI Energy and ING, which previously worked on financing the Alamo City Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project. The Alamo City installation is a 120-MW/480-MWh standalone BESS in Bexar County, Texas. ING Capital is underwriting SunRoper’s financing package, which includes a long-term construction loan, a tax equity bridge loan, and various debt instruments. The companies on February 23 said that ING Capital is acting only as lead arranger, sole book arranger, and green loan coordinator, and will act as managing agent. Construction financing is backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with an unnamed Fortune 100 company. Other participants in Project SunRoper include:
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BHI and the Bank of Hapoalim, which provided financial support and letters of credit to support the development of the project.
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Foley & Lardner LLP provided legal counsel to the SunRoper merger between OCI Energy and Arava Power.
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Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom LLP represented ING.
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WHC, LLC will serve as the engineer, procurement, and construction contractor.
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Black & Veatch is acting as technical advisor.
“The closing of construction financing for Project SunRoper represents an important milestone for OCI Energy and our partners,” said Sabah Bayatli, president of OCI Energy. “This transaction demonstrates our continued commitment to delivering high-quality, operational solar projects that strengthen grid reliability and provide affordable energy infrastructure.” “Arava Power is entering an important phase of growth, and the American market is a pillar of our long-term strategy,” said Ilan Zidkony, CEO of Arava Power. “Project SunRoper highlights the strength of our partnership with OCI Energy. Our teams have worked with exceptional synergy and a shared commitment to excellence—finding a very strong commercial package, finalizing financing, and finalizing a long-term bus PPA with a major US energy company to move the project toward construction. SunRoper is a key strategy for GW’s vision for the United States to build more than our most supportive capacity in the United States over the next two years.” “We are grateful for the opportunity to support OCI Energy and Arava Power in financing Project SunRoper,” said Sven Wellock, managing director at ING. “This project demonstrates the high-quality renewable infrastructure we want to finance—a strong sponsor partnership, a long-term contract revenue profile, and a well-positioned asset in one of the most dynamic energy markets in the United States. We are proud to build on our existing relationship with OCI Energy and to partner with Arava Power in expanding its sustainable, reliable and growing US energy market, which will be able to bring clean energy to market in the United States for years to come.” Project SunRoper is located about 60 miles southwest of Houston, Texas. The installation is expected to begin commercial operation in 3Q2027. OCI Energy, founded in 2012, is a developer, owner, and operator of solar and battery storage projects. The company has a diverse national portfolio of projects, and is targeting up to 10 GW of production capacity by 2028. Arava Power is an Israeli utility-scale renewable developer and independent power producer. The company said it pioneered the Israeli utility-scale photovoltaic market in 2007. The company develops, owns, and operates a multi-gigawatt portfolio of solar power and energy storage assets in Israel and US ING Capital LLC is a financial services firm serving corporate and institutional clients. The company is an indirect US subsidiary of ING Bank NV, which is part of ING Groep NV (NYSE: ING), a global financial institution with a strong European base. –Darrell Proctor is the senior editor of POWER.
