Duke Energy Renewables, a subsidiary of Duke Energy, announced its 150-megawatt (MW) North Rosamond solar project in Kern County, CA, has begun commercial operation. It is the largest solar project in Duke Energy Renewables' fleet.

M&T Bank's Commercial Equipment Finance Group; the U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation, the tax credit division of U.S. Bank; and The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America provided tax equity financing to the project.

Frank Campagna, Group Vice President for Equipment Finance at M&T Bank, in a recent interview with Equipment Finance Advisor, talked about how the group has become “a very serious player now in renewable energy.”

"North Rosamond is a great addition to our growing solar portfolio," said Rob Caldwell, President of Duke Energy Renewables. "California is a leader in renewable energy, and we're pleased to support the state's efforts by continuing to provide cost-efficient renewable energy to meet residents' needs."

The 150-MW project, which contains over 477,000 solar panels, is located on approximately 1,188 acres outside of Rosamond, Calif., and will power approximately 71,000 homes. The North Rosamond solar project is Duke Energy Renewables' sixth solar generation facility in Kern County. The energy generated from the North Rosamond solar project is being sold to Southern California Edison under a 15-year agreement.

The facility's design, procurement of PV modules, inverters, balance of plant systems and construction of the project were performed by First Solar Electric California's engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) subsidiary under a fixed-price EPC agreement for the project.

CIT's Power and Energy group led a consortium of lending institutions that provided construction loan and ITC bridge loan facilities to fund equipment, engineering, construction and other costs needed to achieve final completion of the project. These facilities will be converted to a single term loan facility that will be used to finance the project over the next 15 years.