Swift Current co-founder discloses additional details on recent Chicago agreement and pipeline
In an interview with NPM, Swift Current Energy Co-founder and President Matt Birchby provided additional details on Illinois’ largest solar project and how it fits into the firm’s overall pipeline of utility-scale renewable projects.
The firm is currently in the “advanced stages” of developing the Double Black Diamond Solar project, a 593 MW solar project to be sited in Sangamon and Morgan counties in Illinois. The project’s construction is slated to begin before the end of the year and last roughly 24 months, with the project’s full COD expected before the end of 2024. Swift selected construction firm McCarthy to handle construction and will be utilizing some of the 1.2 GW of First Solar modules the firm purchased earlier this year. Upon completion, Double Black Diamond will be the largest solar project in Illinois.
Last week, the City of Chicago announced a new contract with utility Constellation to supply the city with renewable power as part of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to have all city facilities powered by 100 percent renewable energy by 2025. The majority of the power generated by Double Black Diamond will be used to fulfill this agreement.
Chicago launched an RFP in 2020 under which it signed a retail supply agreement with Constellation. Constellation entered into a 12-year PPA with Swift to receive energy and RECs equal to 300 MW from the Double Black Diamond project. Birchby said there will be other offtakers for the project, which Swift will retain ownership of upon its completion.
Swift plans to finance the project traditionally via third party debt financing and a tax equity investment, despite there being a public offtake involved in the project, added Birchby.
Birchby says Double Black Diamond is “representative of the large scale, low-cost to deliver projects that Swift owns and operates, and represents the large-scale projects that Swift is developing to own and operate in strong markets.” Birchby notes the project also “builds on our history of developing projects in Illinois. Swift has developed nearly 1 GW of operational renewable projects to date, 400 MW of which are sited in Illinois.
Looking ahead, Birchby says Swift expects to start construction on more than 1 GW of renewable energy projects this year, all of which will be sited in MISO and ERCOT. He says the firm has “expanded and matured” its solar, wind and energy storage development pipeline which has and will continue to include “organic development activities” as well as “strategic M&A.”
Swift upsized its credit facility in May to USD 225m from USD 150m with additional commitments from Bank of America and Société Générale. Other lenders in the facility are coordinating lead arranger KeyBanc Capital Markets, as well as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The latter three lenders provided the initial USD 150m line of credit in January.
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.
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