ET Solar Australia Pty. a unit of China’s ET Solar Energy Corp., has secured A$20 million (US$15.4 million) debt financing facility with Clean Energy Finance Corp. for its commercial solar business.
Under the agreement, ET Solar will provide up to A$13.3 million in equity, while the CEFC will provide up to A$20 million in senior debt, which will enable the construction of commercial power-purchase agreement driven solar projects. The debt will be used to fund the build-up of solar systems being developed and to be owned by ET Solar.
ET Solar will own and operate solar systems ranging between 30 kilowatt and 2 megawatt in size with various commercial users including shopping centers, mining and manufacturing businesses to be the electricity buyers. These commercial power users will enter into PPAs with ET Solar at pre-agreed rates over a 10 to 20-year time horizon to benefit from lower utility costs as the PPA prices are meaningfully lower than the current electricity prices.
The Clean Energy Finance Corp. is a government-run body that invests in renewables energy projects in Australia.