Co-developed on a 50-50 basis with an Israeli energy company
Meets the OBBB commencement-of-construction criteria finalized in July last year
OCI Holdings announced on the 26th that on the 23rd (local time), its U.S. subsidiary OCI Energy successfully completed financing for the 260-megawatt (MW) Sun Roper project, which it is co-developing on a 50-50 basis with Israeli energy company Arava Power.
Global financial institution ING Capital is acting as the sole lead arranger and will provide a financing package of approximately 394 million dollars (about 568 billion won). Numerous global partners, including a specialized engineering, procurement and construction contractor, technical advisory firms, and law firms, will participate to support the stable execution of the project.
As a result, OCI Energy has successfully completed this round of financing despite various policy uncertainties last year, including the U.S. administration's country-specific reciprocal tariffs and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB), and will be able to further accelerate the remaining procedures from power plant construction to the start of commercial operation.
The Sun Roper project joint venture, established in February last year, is building a solar power plant with a site area of about 2 million pyeong (approximately 6.93 million square meters) and an installed capacity of 260 MW in Wharton County, southwest of Houston. This area is more than twice (about 2.5 times) the size of Yeouido and corresponds to the amount of electricity that about 60,000 four-person households in Korea can sufficiently use in a single day.
The two companies plan to begin commercial operation of the plant in the third quarter of 2027. Along with this financing, they have also signed a 20-year long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply clean energy to key power demand facilities in Texas, thereby securing a stable revenue structure.
The project meets the requirements for commencement of construction, and under the OBBB Act, if construction starts before July 4 this year, it will be eligible for a 30% investment tax credit (ITC) plus an additional 10% energy community bonus, allowing the recovery of up to 40% of the investment cost.
Lee Woo-hyun, Chairman of OCI Holdings, said, "We will move away from the existing structure of selling projects just before completion, and instead directly operate them through joint venture investments like this to generate long-term power sales revenue," adding, "Going forward, we plan to expand our competitive pipeline not only in Texas but across the United States."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
