BREAKING NEWS: Utah-based rPlus Energies Announces Construction Debt Financing of over $1 Billion for its 800 MW Green River Energy Center

With the backing of five top financial institutions — Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, KeyBanc Capital Markets, MUFG Bank, Truist Securities, and Wells Fargo Securities, and with a "power purchase agreement" already in place with PacifiCorp — five-year-old rPlus has boldly stepped forward as an "independent power producer."  

Wake-up Utah! We've got another major energy player HQ'd in the state.

Yesterday morning (Tuesday, 16 July 2024), Salt Lake City, Utah-based rPlus Energies announced it has secured over $1 billion in construction debt financing for its Green River Energy Center project subsidiary.

When completed, this development is slated to produce 400 megawatts (MW) of solar PV and 400 MW/1,600 megawatt-hours of battery storage.

Additionally, rPlus already has a PPA ("Power Purchase Agreement") in place with PacifiCorp for electricity produced out of the Green River Energy Center.

Construction funding for this project has been pledged by

• Crédit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank,
• KeyBanc Capital Markets,
• MUFG Bank,
• Truist Securities, and
• Wells Fargo Securities.

Of note, MUFG will serve as Administrative Agent for the lenders.

According to Luigi Resta, rPlus President and CEO:

“The Green River Energy Center marks rPlus Energies' debut as an independent power producer. We extend our deep gratitude to the five esteemed lenders, and their affiliates and syndicate members, for supporting one of the largest projects of its kind in the country.”

From Humble Beginnings, a Bold Future

rPlus got its start back in January 2019 as a "new subsidiary" of Gardner Group (formerly, The Gardner Company), the now 40-year-old, commercial real estate developer headquartered in Utah, a firm with over 30-million square feet of retail centers, multi-family residential, office, industrial, medical campuses, and senior living facilities.

When the formation of rPlus was announced (see below), Gardner Group said that through rPlus it was

"... expanding the real estate developer’s footprint into renewable energy and supporting its mission to build projects that benefit its clients, communities, and the environment ...."

that doing so gave it

"... the ability to fully develop and execute renewable power strategies that provide its clients with competitive rates for reliable, clean energy ...."

and that it planned to

"... employ both traditional and new technologies to provide customers access to their region’s best mix of renewable resources — including solar, wind, pumped hydro, biomass and beyond — enabling a more dispatchable and reliable power supply ...."

  and that it would develop

"... new utility-scale and mid-sized renewable energy projects that maximize the most forward-thinking advancements in technology, financing and operations."

Based upon our review of the five-year accomplishments of rPlus, backed by an investment commitment this February of up to $460 million from Sandbrook Capital, it's clear to me that rPlus Energies is no longer a cliche "gleam in the eye" of Gardner Group.

Rather,

rPlus Energies has firmly entrenched Utah as one of the world's "Emerging Energy Ecosystems."

And that makes rPlus Energies a foundational player in Utah's energy industry.

And for that, congrats all the way around.

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