Intersect Power Wins Two “Deal of the Year” Awards for $2.6B of Project Financing
Project Finance International’s 2021 Americas ESG Deal of the Year and Proximo’s 2021 North America Solar Deal of the Year
Oakland, Calif.–[April 21, 2022]–Intersect Power, LLC, (“Intersect Power” or “Intersect”) has been awarded two prestigious “Deal of the Year” awards in recognition of November 2021’s closing on an aggregate of $2.6B of financing commitments for the construction and operations of a six-project portfolio from Project Finance International and Proximo.
“I am incredibly proud of the accomplishments our Intersect Power team has achieved and I am grateful for the industry recognition and further validation of our team’s hard work,” said Intersect Power CEO Sheldon Kimber. “I am honored to work alongside such brilliant and driven individuals who bring our vision of a more innovative and efficient clean energy future to life.”
The Project Finance International Awards seek to “honor companies that have demonstrated outstanding levels of performance, professionalism and innovation over the past year.” Widely known as the “ultimate in the industry recognition,” PFI’s recognition of Intersect Power’s 2021 transaction is a nod to the significance of having piloted a new, highly innovative approach to project financing and its industry-wide impact on the future of project finance. You can read more about Intersect’s achievement here.
Proximo’s annual “Deal of Year” Awards recognize groundbreaking North American transactions. A notable piece of Intersect Power’s award-winning deal was securing financing that enables the execution of two massive solar projects with storage in Intersect’s portfolio, Athos III and Radian, an achievement Proximo has recognized as the “first two phases of a large quasi-merchant solar and storage portfolio”. You can learn more about Proximo’s 2021 awards here.
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About Intersect Power
Intersect Power is a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets. The company develops some of the world’s largest clean energy resources providing low-carbon electricity, fuels, and related products to customers across North America. Intersect Power has an 8.5+ GWp and 8+ GWh mid to late-stage pipeline that includes a base portfolio of 2.2 GWp of solar PV and 1.4 GWh of co-located storage that will be in operation by 2023. The Intersect team is also planning 600+ MW of green hydrogen production. To learn more about Intersect Power and view our job openings, please visit www.intersectpower.com/who-we-are/.
SAN FRANCISCO – (January 25, 2022) – Intersect Power, a clean energy company, today welcomed John Cook as Chief Legal Officer. Mr. Cook will join the Company’s executive team leading the integrated legal activities to support Intersect Power’s rapid growth.
Mr. Cook brings to the company more than 25 years of experience in the technology, cleantech, and energy industries leading hundreds of M&A and financing transactions involving both public and private companies. He is widely recognized as a leading advisor to entrepreneurs, technology companies, and energy companies.
“John has been our lead outside counsel since we founded Intersect Power and a long-time partner to our team,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power. “His experience, focus, and dedication further positions our company to capture opportunities for the clean energy industry and create new pathways between clean electricity and the broader economy.”
“The Intersect Power team’s vision for the future of clean energy is wildly exciting, unique, and attainable,” said John Cook, Chief Legal Officer of Intersect Power. “I am inspired by the company mission and values and am excited to continue the great work with this strong team in my new role.”
Mr. Cook most recently was a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe leading the San Francisco Corporate Group and involved in the Technology & Innovation, Energy & Infrastructure, Mergers & Acquisitions, and Technology Companies Group practices.
“We are grateful to John for his contributions to our firm and wish him continued success in his new role at Intersect Power,” said Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe when reached for comment. “We are excited for John to take this new opportunity.”
The Intersect Power team believes the zero-carbon industries of tomorrow are enabled by the clean electricity technologies of today and develops and owns the clean energy resources that further the deep decarbonization of our economy. The Company is leading the market to more structured and sustainable offtakes for today’s clean energy products while taking new products like green H2 from ideas to steel in the ground. As clean energy expands to include green hydrogen, carbon capture, and other zero carbon infrastructure powered by renewables, Intersect Power is creating equally strong customer relationships in these new markets.
ABOUT INTERSECT POWER
Founded in 2016, Intersect Power is a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets. The company develops some of the world’s largest clean energy resources providing low-carbon electricity, fuels, and related products to customers across North America.
Intersect Power has an 8.5+ GWp and 8+ GWh mid to late-stage pipeline that includes a base portfolio of 2.2 GWp of solar PV and 1.4 GWh of co-located storage that will be in operations by 2023. The Intersect team is also planning 600+ MW of green hydrogen production and approximately $6.6B in financial transactions closed.
Closings demonstrate thesis that today’s long term offtake contracts destroy value and that innovative financing can enable more valuable offtake structures
San Francisco — [November 18, 2021] — Intersect Power, LLC, (“Intersect Power” or “Intersect”), announced today the closing of eight separate transactions representing an aggregate of $2.6B of financing commitments for the construction and operations of a six-project portfolio. The transactions cover construction financing, tax equity, land financing and portfolio level term debt with industry-leading partners.
“These closings demonstrate what Intersect has been saying for some time now – that today’s long-term offtake contracts actually destroy value, and that there are innovative ways to finance clean energy assets which enable more valuable offtake structures,” said Sheldon Kimber, founder and CEO of Intersect. “This financing will allow Intersect to deliver a core set of projects in the next two years that will serve as the platform for future growth into green hydrogen and beyond. This is the base from which our company will build the most scalable, transformative clean energy projects that minimize cost and risk per MW deployed, and move the needle on the deep decarbonization of our economy.”
Intersect’s differentiated approach to power marketing and financing, focused on the active management of shorter-tenor offtake contracts and portfolio-level financing, is expected to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns for investors. The closings will allow Intersect Power to execute its portfolio of 2.2 GWDC of late-stage solar projects with 1.4 GWh of storage that will be in operation by 2023 (the “Portfolio”), which includes the following projects: Athos III (CA), Radian (TX), Oberon I (CA), Oberon II (CA), Lumina I (TX) and Lumina II (TX).
What distinguishes these financings from typical renewable projects is the $1.4B of portfolio level, term debt funding provided by HPS Investment Partners and Co-Investors, along with existing Intersect investors CarVal Investors, Generate and Climate Adaptive Infrastructure. Bank of America and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as co-lead arrangers and structuring agents on the term debt placement. The term financing facility incorporates structuring and pricing provisions designed to account for the higher proportion of uncontracted revenue in the portfolio. Proceeds from the term facility will support both construction and operation of the Portfolio.
Michael Patterson, Governing Partner of HPS, said, “Intersect Power is a market leader in developing clean energy infrastructure at the scale needed to move the needle on the incredibly important transition to a sustainable future. We are thrilled to partner with Sheldon and his talented team and bring our renewable energy expertise and capital to bear to help accelerate Intersect’s growth trajectory across established and emerging areas of renewable power generation and infrastructure. The innovative financial solutions that Intersect will be able to implement thanks to this landmark transaction will play a key role in solidifying its position at the forefront of the industry and we look forward to continuing to support the Company as it builds on its strong track record of success.”
“We are proud to partner with Intersect on this innovative financing structure that we hope will serve as a platform for future growth in sustainable financing projects,” said Jerry Keefe, Principal at CarVal Investors. “We believe Intersect has strong expertise in clean energy and we look forward to supporting them in their commitment to making a global impact on sustainable finance.”
“The Intersect team is changing the way infrastructure gets deployed at the scale we need to meet the climate challenge,” said Jeff Ross, senior managing director and head of the investment team at Generate Capital. “ Generate is proud to collaborate with the visionary team at Intersect again to support their growth.”
“Bank of America is committed to delivering creative and holistic solutions to the renewable energy sector. We are pleased to support the Intersect Power team with its complementary financing objectives—spanning term debt placement, tax equity raise and power hedging—and look forward to collaboration on future opportunities,” said Omer Farooq, Managing Director and Global Head of Asset Finance in Bank of America’s Global Sustainable Finance Group.
The approximately $800 million construction financing proceeds will be used to fund the construction of Intersect’s 310MWdc + 453MWh BESS Athos III Project located in Riverside County, California and 415MWdc Radian Project located in Brown County, Texas. The five lender financing was led by Co-Coordinating Lead Arrangers, MUFG and Santander Bank, N.A. The group also included KeyBanc Capital Markets, CoBank, and Helaba as Joint Lead Arrangers. The Athos III and Radian projects are under construction and will come online in late 2022.
“Santander is proud to have helped Intersect Power put together these impressive and innovative transactions that allow us to combine our vast experience in complex renewable energy structuring with our growing fund finance practice,” said Nuno Andrade, US Head of Structured Finance of Santander Corporate & Investment Banking. “We congratulate all the parties involved, especially the entire Intersect team for this amazing achievement.”
Alex Wernberg, Head of Power Project financing at MUFG noted, “Santander and MUFG as CLAs, were pleased to work with Intersect and HPS to engineer a bespoke structure to accommodate the unique portfolio level term debt take-out financing.“
Concurrent with the closing of the construction financing, Intersect secured approximately $400 million of commitments from leading tax equity investors, including Bank of America (Radian) and Morgan Stanley Renewables Inc. (Athos III). Intersect also executed an innovative offtake structure with Merrill Lynch Commodities to hedge the Radian project.
“We are pleased to partner with Sheldon and the Intersect Power team, and continue our contribution to the decarbonization of the US energy market,” said Jorge Iragorri, Managing Director and Head of Alternative Financing Group at Morgan Stanley.
“As a founding investor in Intersect Power, we are proud of our ongoing support for the company as it redefines the future of renewable infrastructure,” said Bill Green, Founder and Managing Partner at Climate Adaptive Infrastructure. “Intersect Power has delivered on the substantial goals it set out last fall and has proven its core thesis around the evolution of power markets and financing. As demand for clean energy and policy support further strengthens, we are confident in Intersect Power’s future growth opportunities and will continue to invest in Intersect, and other innovators across the clean energy industry.”
Intersect and its partners were represented by the following counsel and advisors on the deals: Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe represented IP as lead counsel on all transactions and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as Intersect’s special tax counsel; CCA Group, LLC advised IP on the tax equity transactions; Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as counsel to the CarVal Investors, Generate and Climate Adaptive Infrastructure; Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP served as counsel to Bank of America Tax Equity; Mayer Brown LLP served as counsel to Morgan Stanley Renewables Inc.; Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP served as counsel to HPS; and Winston & Strawn LLP served as counsel to the construction lenders.
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ABOUT INTERSECT POWER
Founded in 2016, Intersect Power is a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets. The company develops some of the world’s largest clean energy resources providing low-carbon electricity, fuels, and related products to customers across North America. Intersect Power has a portfolio of 2.4 GWDC of late-stage solar projects and 1.8 GWh storage projects, an emerging pipeline of 8.5 GWp+ of renewable generation, 8 GWh+ of energy storage, 600 MW+ of green hydrogen production and approximately $4B in financial transactions closed.
MOU focuses on technical collaboration and work towards a 2022 supply agreement to deploy hundreds of megawatts of electrolyzers
San Francisco, CA – October 8, 2021 – Intersect Power, a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets, today announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Electric Hydrogen, an electrolyzer manufacturer led by a team of energy transition veterans from First Solar and Tesla, to advance green hydrogen production infrastructure. The MOU provides a framework for the companies to collaborate on the application of Electric Hydrogen’s proprietary proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis system in Intersect’s renewable powered hydrogen projects, and to work towards a definitive supply agreement by the first half of 2022.
“Intersect Power was founded around a couple of core questions, one of which was, what happens when clean energy is so cheap that it doesn’t make sense to put it all on the grid? This question has led us to our current view that clean electricity is the nexus of deep decarbonization,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power. “High capacity factor, low-cost renewable power will enable the trillion dollar, zero carbon industries of tomorrow and green hydrogen will be one of those. We expect to deploy hundreds of megawatts of PEM electrolyzers by the middle of this decade as we help to lead the energy transition by thinking beyond the grid.”
The technical collaboration between the two companies will focus on directly pairing and tightly integrating renewable power with Electric Hydrogen’s advanced electrolysis system to enable higher efficiencies and lower capital costs. “Electric Hydrogen was founded to bring infrastructure scale renewable hydrogen production equipment to market,” said Raffi Garabedian, CEO of Electric Hydrogen. “Our proprietary technology platform spans from catalyst to the systems architecture to achieve the lowest overall cost of green hydrogen production from renewable power. We’re thrilled to be working with Intersect Power to help support their innovative and ambitious vision.”
About Intersect Power
Founded in 2016, Intersect Power is a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets. The company develops some of the world’s largest clean energy resources providing low-carbon electricity, fuels, and related products to customers across North America. Intersect Power has a portfolio of 2.4 GWDC of late-stage solar and storage projects that will be in operation by 2023, and an emerging pipeline of 5 GWDC of early-stage clean energy assets, including green hydrogen, with $1.3 B in financial transactions closed. The company has also developed and sold more than 1.7 GW-DC of contracted solar projects across California and Texas.
About Electric Hydrogen
Founded by ground-breaking renewable energy technologists from First Solar and Tesla, Electric Hydrogen (EH2) is taking learnings from scaling solar, energy storage and battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and putting them to work at the frontier of cleantech – decarbonizing the industrial sectors with green hydrogen powered by 100% renewable energy. Electric Hydrogen is backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund, Energy Impact Partners, and Prelude Ventures.
Nextracker’s NX Horizon trackers and TrueCapture software to be deployed by Signal Energy
FREMONT, CALIF – July 20, 2021 – Intersect Power, one of North America’s largest developers of utility-scale renewable energy, today announced Signal Energy as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm and supply of the NX Horizon smart solar trackers and TrueCapture yield optimization software from Nextracker for two utility-scale solar projects totaling 728 MW (DC) in Texas and California.
The 415MW (DC) Radian project in Texas and the 313 MW (DC) Athos III project in California are expected to begin construction later this year and will be operational in 2022. Series 6 photovoltaic (PV) solar modules will be supplied by First Solar, Inc. for both projects, as well.
These projects comprise the second set of utility-scale solar projects that Nextracker and Intersect Power have worked on together in the two states. With a combined installed capacity of more than 1.7 GW (DC), the previous portfolio of five projects in California and Texas are under construction and will soon be powering the cumulative equivalent of 357,000 homes. Signal Energy was the EPC firm on three of the five in the previous portfolio.
“As Intersect Power moves towards asset ownership, our long-standing collaborations with Signal Energy and Nextracker give us confidence in these projects’ ability to reliably perform,” said Sheldon Kimber, CEO of Intersect Power. “Technology like TrueCapture optimizes plant performance, enhances the value of each project and allows us to protect the value of our asset in extreme weather events.”
“Our Pre-Construction team collaborated with Intersect Power early in the process to develop the lowest cost of energy solution to complete the development of Radian and Athos III,” said Ryan Johnson, President of Signal Energy. “We also partnered with Nextracker to overcome global logistics challenges to maintain overall project schedules and look forward to working with them on these two outstanding projects.”
“Intersect Power, Signal Energy and Nextracker have a solid track record of partnership on several major utility solar projects,” said Dan Shugar, Nextracker CEO and co-founder. “Our cooperation on this latest portfolio will help accelerate the buildout of clean infrastructure and underscores the important role that our smart solar tracker technology plays in the clean energy transformation.”
Both projects will deploy Nextracker’s TrueCapture advanced tracker optimization and control software to capture additional energy gain during diffuse light conditions. (For more on TrueCapture and how it works to tackle both row-to-row shade challenges and cloudy conditions, watch the video here.)
Image provided by Nextracker Inc.
About Intersect Power
Founded in 2016, Intersect Power is a clean energy company bringing innovative and scalable low-carbon solutions to its customers in retail and wholesale energy markets. The company develops some of the world’s largest clean energy resources providing low-carbon electricity, fuels, and related products to customers across North America. Intersect Power has a portfolio of 2.4 GWDC of late-stage solar and storage projects that will be in operation by 2023, an emerging pipeline of 4 GWDC of early stage clean energy assets, including green hydrogen, with $1.3 B in financial transactions closed. The company has also developed and sold more than 1.7 GW-DC of contracted solar projects across California and Texas. For more information, visit www.intersectpower.com
About Signal Energy
Signal Energy is a leading design/build general contractor providing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services for utility-scale renewable energy projects across North America. Our innovative engineering and project teams are among the most experienced in the renewable energy industry. With more than 8,000 megawatts of utility-scale project experience, Signal Energy possesses a wide range of expertise in the design and construction of solar, infrastructure, battery storage, and other power projects. For more information, please visit us online at www.signalenergy.com.
About Nextracker Nextracker is a leader in the renewable energy transition, providing critical yield-enhancing PV system technology, expertise and strategic services to capture the full value and maximize the efficiency of solar plants. Delivering the most comprehensive portfolio of intelligent solar tracker and control software solutions for solar power plants, Nextracker is transforming PV plant performance with smart technology, data monitoring and analysis services. For more information, please visit Nextracker and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
March 31, 2021 — Intersect Power CEO Sheldon Kimber released the following statement on the American Jobs Plan:
“With the release of the American Jobs Plan, and the announcement of the goal to move toward 100 percent carbon-pollution free power by 2035, the Biden administration is demonstrating both an understanding of and a commitment to doing what it takes to create a clean energy economy that works for both people and the planet.
“If the United States wants to build-out the world’s largest clean energy economy with green jobs and the deployment of clean power, we urgently need a much more efficient and effective means of using the incentives we already have. The proposed ten-year extension and phase down of an expanded direct-pay tax credit for clean energy generation and storage is simple and has broad support. I applaud the Administration for recognizing that.
“At last count, the COVID-induced economic downturn was estimated to create a tax equity financing shortfall of $23 billion, or 31 gigawatts worth of solar and wind projects nationwide. If Congress and the Biden administration wants to grow America’s clean energy economy, this is the place to start. Reforms to these credits would immediately greenlight these shovel-ready, job-creating projects, demonstrating the immense potential for economic growth that is the transition to a zero-carbon society. And thankfully, these policy changes are broadly supported by the American public.
“I am also pleased to see the President’s support for standing up green hydrogen production through a new production credit. Even before taking into account new uses of hydrogen, there is a significant existing demand for hydrogen in refineries and ammonia factories in many southern states. Currently that demand is met with carbon intensive reformation of natural gas, which contributes about 3 percent of global CO2 emissions. This investment in carbon-free hydrogen establishes a bridge between the clean electricity sector and fuel markets, dramatically expanding the role that solar and wind can play in the deep decarbonization of our economy.
“America’s energy infrastructure, including it’s transmission system, is old and in most cases, insufficient for the kind of power America needs today. We are forced to face this problem year after year with extreme weather events from floods to fires to freezes, causing catastrophic loss of lives, property and dollars. So regardless of the source – solar, wind, green hydrogen, nuclear or natural gas – building a more resilient transmission system and establishing a new Grid Deployment Authority, is a necessary step to moving new energy sources to where they are needed.
“Without question, infrastructure is the most important part of combating the climate crisis. Climate change and our crumbling infrastructure continues to cost us trillions in clean-up each year and that number is escalating rapidly. These investments may feel large, but they pale by comparison to the cost of doing nothing. It’s time to stop putting off until tomorrow, what must be done today.
The Biden administration is getting it right – This is not government spending. This is government investment…and investments pay dividends for generations to come.”
Intersect Power is a proud member of the Stamford Chamber of Commerce. Past sponsorships include Market on the Square, the Fall Festival and the Holly Jolly Christmas event.
HASKELL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Intersect Power is a proud member of the Haskell Chamber of Commerce. Past sponsorships include Wild Horse Prairie Days and the Haskell Christmas Parade.
BETTER STAMFORD SCHOOL SUPPLY DRIVE
In 2024, Intersect Power donated $5,000 to support the Better Stamford School Supply Drive, helping distribute school supplies to students in the Stamford area.
PAINT CREEK INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
As part of our support for the Paint Creek ISD, our donations have helped to fund a new athletics scoreboard for the Paint Creek Pirates, provide outdoor shade equipment, and purchase new drone equipment for their STEAM classes.
HASKELL INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT
As part of our support for the Haskell ISD, we’ve funded a new athletic sound system and supported a $15,000 scholarship program to empower graduates pursuing higher education.
HASKELL COUNTY TEXAS A
Intersect Power donated $50,000 to the Haskell County TX A&M Extension Services, supporting the renovation of a community building dedicated to 4-H and other children’s programs.
KEEP HASKELL BEAUTIFUL
Intersect Power contributed $100,000 to Keep Haskell Beautiful to support several local improvement projects, including upgrades to the city of Haskell’s walking track and tennis courts, improvements to the Haskell Civic Center and new fire equipment for the Haskell Fire District.
Anneli Alers
Anneli is Senior Vice President Capital Markets
Anneli is responsible for overseeing the Project Finance, Portfolio Finance, and Treasury functions. She is a project finance executive with over 15 years of experience structuring and executing financing transactions spanning various types of debt and equity products in the renewable energy industry.
Prior to joining Intersect Power, Anneli was Senior Vice President of Project Finance for Invenergy where she worked on utility scale wind, solar, storage, and conventional power generating asset financings in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
Anneli holds a BS, General Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a MBA, Finance, Accounting, Operations from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Anneli lives in Taos, New Mexico where she enjoys many of the mountain and river activities the area has to offer and watching many spectacular sunsets.
Amarillo Sod Poodles
Intersect Power had the honor of serving as the presenting sponsor for the 2024 ‘Reading with RUCKUS’ literacy education program, in partnership with the Amarillo Sod Poodles! This initiative is dedicated to fostering literacy and educational engagement among local students by offering incentives as they achieve specific milestones. To launch the program, the beloved Sod Poodles mascot, RUCKUS, made special appearances at assemblies in participating schools, igniting excitement for reading among students. An impressive 20,242 students from 12 school districts across the Texas Panhandle enthusiastically took part in the program
Hereford Food Pantry
The Hereford Food Pantry addresses hunger by providing food for residents of Deaf Smith County. Intersect Power made a donation to support the Food Pantry’s efforts in combating hunger in the area.
Hereford Sports and Wellness Center and the City of Hereford
The Hereford Sports and Wellness Center provides wholesome sports programs, fitness opportunities, and other community-building activities for the citizens of Hereford and the surrounding region. Intersect Power collaborated with the Wellness Center and the City of Hereford, contributing to the construction of a new regional softball/baseball complex in Deaf Smith County. This park will benefit the city and surrounding areas by hosting regional tournaments.
DEAF SMITH COUNTY CRISIS CENTER
The Deaf Smith County Crisis Center provides support for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. We contributed to the Crisis Center’s programs with a general donation.
PANHANDLE COMMUNITY SERVICES
Panhandle Community Services works to change the lives of low-income people by bridging the gap from poverty to self sufficiency.
We have provided funds to support the organization’s weatherization and assistance programs in Deaf Smith, Gray, and Roberts counties.
DEAF SMITH COUNTY
We are a proud member of the Deaf Smith Chamber of Commerce and recently provided funds to help support an initiative to add new signs in the community.
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