Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners and its portfolio company Primergy Solar sold a minority equity stake in its $1.2 billion Gemini Solar + Storage project outside of Las Vegas to APG, the largest pension asset manager in the Netherlands. APG has agreed to acquire a 49% equity ownership in the project on behalf of its pension fund client ABP.
The Primergy team will continue to manage the construction and operational phases of Gemini.
Gemini, a 690MWac solar plus 1,416 MWh battery energy storage facility, is currently the largest solar + storage project under construction in the U.S. and recently closed a record breaking US$1.9 billion tax equity and debt financing led by Bank of America, Truist, KeyBanc, MUFG, and NORD/LB. Truist Securities also advised Quinbrook and Primergy on the transaction.
Earlier this year, Quinbrook and Primergy began seeking equity partners for Gemini. APG was selected by Quinbrook and Primergy following the receipt of multiple offers from a diverse group of prospective investors ranging across the industrial and financial investor landscape.
“Given the scale and impact of Gemini, we felt APG was an exemplary partner for us that is differentiated by its sophisticated approach to the Gemini project and to the US renewables market more generally,” stated David Scaysbrook, co-founder and Managing Partner of Quinbrook.
APG is an experienced investor in US renewables and has several direct investments in utility-scale solar and storage assets in the US. Gemini will be APG’s largest single solar + storage investment to date.
Once complete and operational in 2023, Gemini is expected to generate enough clean energy to power more than 400,000 homes during peak periods and displace 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually.
“The size, innovative integration of battery storage and siting on federal lands makes Gemini one of the most sophisticated clean energy projects ever developed,” states Ty Daul, CEO of Primergy Solar added. “We are thrilled that APG, an experienced US renewables investor, is confident in our team’s capabilities to continue to build, and then to operate and maintain one of the largest solar plants ever constructed.”
“This transaction represents an ideal opportunity to invest in a state-of-the-art energy project that will provide clean, renewable electricity for Nevada,” stated Steven Hason, Managing Director of Americas Real Assets for APG. “We look forward to working with our partners who share our long-term investment goals with regard to this critical infrastructure asset.”
Tags: utility-scale
