Earthrise Secures $360 Million for 1.7GW Solar Push

• Earthrise Energy lands $360M from Santander and MUFG to refinance gas assets and fast-track a 1.7‑GW U.S. solar pipeline, with co-located PV and a 270‑MW Illinois project.

Earthrise Energy secured $360 million in debt from Santander and MUFG to refinance thermal assets and advance a 1.7‑GW U.S. solar pipeline. The package includes a $300 million term loan B, a $30 million letter‑of‑credit facility and a $30 million revolver. Funds will support co‑located PV projects at natural‑gas plants.

A 270‑MW project in Gibson City, Ill., is slated to come online next year, with four sites entering construction in 2026. CEO Jeff Hunter said the deal underscores the assets’ reliability and investor confidence this year. Arlington, Va.-based Earthrise owns 1.7 GW of gas‑fired capacity and began acquisitions in 2021.

What offtake strategy and IRA credits underpin Earthrise’s 1.7‑GW co-located PV rollout?

• Earthrise is expected to pursue a hybrid of long-term utility PPAs, selective corporate offtake contracts, and merchant exposure timed to nodal price strength at existing gas-plant interconnection points. Because the PV assets are co-located with thermal units, they can leverage established grid capacity, enabling more favorable PPA negotiations and faster commercialization cycles.

• The projects are positioned to capture IRA production tax credits (PTC) or investment tax credits (ITC), depending on each site’s economics. Co-location facilitates capacity-based adders—notably for energy-community siting, brownfield redevelopment, and potential domestic-content compliance—making the capital stack more competitive.

• Investors are particularly focused on Earthrise’s ability to backfill declining gas dispatch revenues with contracted solar revenue, using IRA credits to reduce the LCOE and support higher debt-service coverage ratios.

• Market observers note that Earthrise’s likely strategy combines front-of-the-meter PPAs with flexible hedge products, allowing the company to scale the full 1.7-GW pipeline without being over-dependent on a single pricing mechanism.