Longroad Energy has closed $650 million to build Serrano, a solar and battery project in Arizona that sells its output to Arizona Public Service. Six banks provide the debt and an insurance company provides the tax equity. None of the six banks is new to Longroad. Enerdatics records every one of them on an earlier Longroad financing, and the way the roles are divided says a lot about how the deal was put together.
Key takeaways
- Longroad Energy announced on 12 March 2024 that it had secured $650 million of debt and tax equity financing for the Serrano solar and storage project in Pinal and Pima Counties, Arizona.
- The Serrano project combines 220 MWdc of solar with a 214 MWac, 855 MWh battery, uses First Solar's Series 7 panels and sells its power to Arizona Public Service under a long-term PPA, with commercial operation expected in the first half of 2025.
- CIBC and Societe Generale were coordinating lead arrangers of the Serrano debt, with U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance as joint lead arranger and ANZ, PNC and Commerzbank also lending.
- Athene Annuity and Life Insurance Company, an affiliate of Apollo Global Management, is the Serrano tax equity investor, advised by Apterra Infrastructure Capital.
- Enerdatics records 126 US solar and storage financings announced between January 2023 and June 2025, of which four combine debt and tax equity in a single package, totalling $1.93 billion, Serrano among them.
Who does what in the Serrano financing?
Each lender has a defined job, and CIBC has the most. CIBC is coordinating lead arranger, administrative agent, collateral agent and green loan coordinator. In plain terms, it helped structure the loan, it administers payments among the lenders, it holds the security over the project on their behalf, and it certifies the loan against green lending standards.
Societe Generale shares the coordinating lead arranger role. U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance is joint lead arranger and also depositary bank, the bank that holds the project's accounts. ANZ, PNC and Commerzbank complete the lending group.
The tax equity sits apart from the banks. Tax equity is an investment made in exchange for the project's federal tax credits and other tax benefits, which the developer cannot use as efficiently itself. Here the investor is Athene, an Apollo affiliate, rather than a bank. Leap records the $650 million as a single debt and tax equity package and does not split it between the two.
Why does the same lending group keep coming back?
Because a developer that builds repeatedly can reuse a group that already knows its projects. Longroad's Sun Streams 4 financing in November 2023 drew on nine banks: Societe Generale, National Australia Bank, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, CoBank, Commerzbank, BNP Paribas, PNC, ANZ and CIBC. All six Serrano lenders were in that group. Three of them, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, Commerzbank and CIBC, appear again in Longroad's Sun Pond financing in December 2024.
A repeat lending group can shorten due diligence, because the banks already know Longroad's construction record, its contracting approach and its technical standards. Each new project can then be an increment to a relationship rather than a new credit decision from scratch. For a developer that says its Arizona solar footprint now exceeds 1.5 GW of operating or under-construction projects, that is a practical advantage.
The equipment choices are the variable. Serrano is Longroad's first use of First Solar's American-made Series 7 panels. The battery comes from Powin, with SMA inverters and cells from AESC. McCarthy Building Companies is the engineering, procurement and construction contractor.
How big is the battery compared with the solar?
Almost as big in power, and four hours deep. Serrano pairs 220 MWdc of solar with a 214 MWac battery holding 855 MWh. Duration is the energy capacity divided by the power rating, so the battery can discharge at full power for about four hours.
That shape lets the project shift its own output. Solar generation falls away in the early evening. A four-hour battery nearly matched to the solar in power can store midday output and release it after sunset, so the utility buying the power receives it across more of the day. Arizona battery projects are being financed at scale on their own as well, as in Strata's Scatter Wash loan among US single-battery financings.
Enerdatics' data shows how unusual Serrano's financing structure is. Enerdatics records 126 US solar and storage financings announced between January 2023 and June 2025, totalling about $48.6 billion. Seventy-two are debt only and 16 are tax equity only. Only four are recorded as a combined debt and tax equity package, together worth $1.93 billion. Serrano, at $650 million, is the largest and the earliest of them, ahead of Enlight's $550 million package for its Roadrunner project in December 2024, Estuary Power's $340 million for its Escape project in January 2025 and Encore Renewable Energy's $389 million from Brookfield the same month. In Arizona, BrightNight and Cordelio financed their Box Canyon solar project in two separate steps: a $414 million credit facility in May 2024 and $260 million of tax equity five months later.
What does the deal signal for US solar and storage financing?
It signals that sponsors with long relationships can close debt and tax equity together, rather than in sequence. A combined close removes the risk that one side arrives late or on different terms. That can matter on hybrid projects, where the battery and the solar are financed as one asset.
It also shows tax equity coming from an insurer rather than a bank. Athene is an annuity provider, and its presence here widens the pool of capital a developer can draw on for tax credits. Developers are testing more than one route. Arevon, for one, used different structures on two similar projects, as in Arevon's Eland 2, which takes tax equity where its Vikings project sold credits.
Serrano is also expected to contribute more than $25 million in revenue to Arizona schools and communities, and its construction to employ more than 300 people. The project brings together a utility contract, a familiar lending group and a new panel supplier. The open question is whether Longroad can bring the same group back for its next Arizona project.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Longroad Energy raise for Serrano? Longroad Energy secured $650 million of debt and tax equity financing for the Serrano solar and storage project in Arizona, announced on 12 March 2024.
Which banks financed Longroad's Serrano project? CIBC and Societe Generale were coordinating lead arrangers, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance was joint lead arranger and depositary bank, and ANZ, PNC and Commerzbank also lent. Athene, an Apollo affiliate, is the tax equity investor.
Who buys the power from Serrano? Arizona Public Service buys the power from Serrano under a long-term PPA. The project combines 220 MWdc of solar with a 214 MWac, 855 MWh battery.
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