Recurrent Energy, the wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. has begun construction of the 100-megawatt Sunflower Solar project in Mississippi. The project is located in the Sunflower County, and it had a total investment of $146 million.
Firstly, to fund the construction, Recurrent Energy closed a debt financing with Norddeutsche Landesbank and Rabobank, including a construction loan and letter of credit commitments.
Secondly, the Sunflower Solar project was one of the first utility-scale solar projects to be constructed under a Build Transfer Agreement (“BTA”) in the United States. Recurrent Energy signed the contract with Entergy Mississippi in 2018.
Consequently, once the project reaches operational date, in early 2022, the regulated utility will own the Sunflower Solar project. Indeed, the contract was approved unanimously by the Mississippi Public Service Commission in April 2020.
Thirdly, Recurrent energy expects that the project will employ more than 400 workers at peak construction phase; 75% of those jobs will come from local skilled tradespeople from the area.
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Moreover, the project intends to create further economic benefits to the local community; by providing local sales and property tax revenues to Sunflower County; as well as indirect benefits such as increased local spending on the service and construction industries.
Furthermore, once operational, the Sunflower Solar facility will power more than 16,000 homes with low-cost, clean electricity; equivalent to displacing approximately 170,000 metric tons of CO2 per year; or taking about 37,000 passenger vehicles off the road.
In addition, Shawn Qu, CEO of Canadian Solar, said. “We are very pleased to be charging ahead on the Sunflower solar project and look forward to successfully developing and constructing the project, creating a seamless transition of ownership to our valued customer, Entergy Mississippi.”
Finally, Haley Fisackerly, Entergy Mississippi President and CEO, concluded. “The Sunflower Solar project is another important milestone in Entergy Corporation’s continued transformation of its power generation portfolio; meeting customers’ needs with clean, efficient sources of electricity while maintaining some of the lowest retail rates in the country.”
