Panamint Closes First $769M of $1.8B Loan for Texas Coal-Site Solar

• Panamint Capital closed the $769 million first phase of a $1.8 billion green loan for its 1.2-GWdc Big Rooter solar project in Texas.
• The 491-MWdc West phase sits on reclaimed land of a lignite mine that feeds a 310-MW coal plant; it is due online in August 2028.
• A second loan of more than $1 billion for the 658-MWdc East phase is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.

Panamint Capital LLC has reached financial close on the $769 million first phase of a $1.8 billion green loan for Big Rooter Power, a 1.2-GWdc solar project on reclaimed coal mine land in Robertson County, Texas, the company said on Nov. 4.

The money funds construction of Big Rooter West, a 491-MWdc phase that broke ground in July and is due to start commercial operation in August 2028. Lloyds, MUFG and SMBC are coordinating lead arrangers and joint bookrunners on both phases, with MUFG also acting as administrative agent, Panamint said in a statement. A second package of more than $1 billion, for the 658-MWdc Big Rooter East, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.

The project sits halfway between Dallas and Houston on Panamint's 10,000-acre Twin Oaks complex. It includes the 310-MW lignite-fired Twin Oaks Power Station and the Calvert surface mine that fuels it. Big Rooter reuses reclaimed mine land and the station's operating grid connection. Panamint calls it the largest brownfield renewable energy project in North America.

The financing in numbers

• $769 million closed for West: a $240 million construction-to-term loan, a $461 million tax equity bridge loan and a $68 million letter of credit.
• $1.014 billion planned for East: $336 million, $587 million and $91 million across the same three facilities.
• $1.57 of first-phase financing per watt of DC capacity (list.solar calculation).
• 60% of the first tranche is the tax equity bridge loan (list.solar calculation).
• 43% of the 1,149 MWdc in the two named phases is in Big Rooter West (list.solar calculation).
• 78 billion kWh of solar generation is forecast in the ERCOT grid in 2026, ahead of 60 billion kWh from coal, according to the EIA.

SOLV Energy is the EPC contractor, Panamint said in July. First Solar will make about 2 million panels in Ohio, Louisiana and Alabama, and Nextpower will supply trackers. The output is sold under a long-term power purchase agreement with a single investment-grade buyer that Panamint has not named.

CEO Apolka Totth called the financing "a strong vote of confidence in our Big Rooter Power project." KKR's Global Atlantic holds a minority stake in Panamint. Panamint is also developing two 200-MW / 800-MWh battery projects at Twin Oaks, due online in 2028 and 2029.

Big Rooter East is due to start construction in December and commercial operation in August 2029.