Three projects are among the clean energy industry's first to qualify for both the IRA's investment tax credit and its domestic content adder; and also represent Greenbacker's first executed sale-leaseback financing. Harnessing efficiency gains in newer technologies, Greenbacker has repowered 110 MW of its Midwestern wind fleet, including like-for-like equipment replacement at its largest Minnesota wind farm. NEW YORK, April 24, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC ("Greenbacker," "GREC," or the "Company"), a leading climate-focused investment manager and independent power producer, has secured $437 million in financing to repower two utility-scale wind energy assets in Iowa and complete a like-for-like equipment replacement at its largest wind farm in Minnesota (together, referred to as three "repowers"). The repowers represent an energy transition milestone for Greenbacker. In addition to qualifying for the 30% investment tax credit ("ITC"), the projects are also among the clean energy industry's first to utilize the additional 10% domestic content bonus newly created by the Inflation Reduction Act ("IRA"),1 based on their use of components manufactured in the US, including new turbine blades, hubs, and nacelles. "These repowers are among the first deals to utilize the ‘domestic content adder' put in place under the IRA—a win for US manufacturing—and we are quite frankly thrilled to be an early success story demonstrating that the legislation is bolstering additional renewables investment," said Armand G. Dehaney, Principal of Investments at Greenbacker. "With the newly redeveloped projects, we are proud to create green jobs, generate tax revenue, and continue to produce affordable renewable power for Iowa and Minnesota. We're grateful to the landowners for their support and we look forward to working closely with them for years to come." The repowers also represent another milestone for Greenbacker: its first projects financed via sale-leaseback. The sale-leaseback structure provides Greenbacker greater upfront proceeds, while also creating a more efficient transaction that captures the benefits of both tax equity financing and back leverage lending in one transaction. Greenbacker repowers wind asset Greenbacker has repowered its Hawkeye wind energy project (38 MW, IA), replacing older turbines with new, more efficient components that have been sourced domestically. To finance the repowers, Greenbacker collaborated with existing lender Bayerische Landesbank ("BayernLB") to secure $81.5 million in construction bridge loan facilities and additionally secured long-term debt and tax equity financing from Huntington National Bank via sale-leasebacks totaling $355.7 million. "This marks our first tax credit transaction with Huntington, with whom we've closed our first sale-leaseback financing," Dehaney said. "We look forward to executing on our pipeline of projects across our growing wind fleet with partners like BayernLB and Huntington, who share our vision for a sustainable world." Huntington, one of the largest US regional banks and a deeply experienced lender in ...