Avantus Lifts Credit Facility to $1.28 Billion, Adds Five New Banks

• Avantus raised total commitments under its corporate credit facility to $1.28 billion, three months after closing a $1.05 billion version.
• Five banks joined as lead arrangers; SMBC remains administrative agent of a group that now counts 16 lenders.
• The money backs a 24-GW solar and storage pipeline in California and the Desert Southwest; Aratina 2 is due online by the end of 2026.

Avantus has raised total commitments under its corporate credit facility to $1.28 billion, adding five banks three months after it closed a $1.05 billion version, the San Diego-based solar and storage developer said on Nov. 4.

Helaba, MUFG, NordLB, Santander and Standard Chartered joined as lead arrangers, Avantus said in a statement. SMBC stays on as administrative agent, collateral agent and lead arranger. Ten other existing lenders remain, among them ING Capital, HSBC, KKR, Truist Securities and Mizuho. The company did not disclose the tenor, the pricing or any split between loans and letters of credit.

The facility funds Avantus' strategy of owning and operating utility-scale projects in California and the Desert Southwest as an independent power producer. When the facility reached $1.05 billion in August, Omar Karar, executive vice president of capital markets and M&A, said it would help move projects "swiftly from development into construction and operations."

The facility in numbers

• $1.28 billion in total commitments, up from $1.05 billion in August 2026.
• $230 million, or about 22%, added in three months (list.solar calculation).
• 2.5 times the $522 million facility Avantus put in place in July 2024 (list.solar calculation).
• 16 lenders in the group, five of them new (list.solar count).
• 24 GW development pipeline, including 13 GW of solar paired with 44 GWh of battery storage.
• About $53 million of facility per GW of pipeline, a rough ratio (list.solar calculation).
• Over 16% of US utility-scale solar added in 2026 through September is co-located with batteries, up from 2% in 2017, EIA data show.

In California, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada, the share of solar co-located with batteries is more than double the national average, according to the EIA.

Avantus said in August it was on track to have 788 MW in commercial operation and 800 MW under construction by the end of 2026. Aratina 1, a 200-MW solar and 500-MWh storage plant in Kern County, California, started commercial operation in July.

The adjacent Aratina 2, with 150 MW of solar and 452 MWh of storage, is due to start operating by the end of 2026. It has more than $525 million of construction debt from BBVA, CIBC and Santander and a $300 million tax equity commitment from Truist. Next in line is Rexford 2 in Tulare County, a 200-MW / 800-MWh project with a 20-year power purchase agreement.