Plus Power has closed about $1.8 billion of financing for five battery storage projects, three in Texas and two in Arizona. On the surface it is one package for roughly 1 GW. Split by state, it is two very different stories. The Arizona batteries are a third of the capacity and take half of the money.
Key takeaways
- Plus Power announced about $1.8 billion of financing on 17 October 2023 for the construction and operation of roughly 1 GW of battery storage in Texas and Arizona, made up of $1,375.3 million of bank debt and $414.2 million of tax equity across four transactions.
- Plus Power secured a $701 million term loan and letter of credit facility for the 250 MW Sierra Estrella and 90 MW Superstition battery projects in Arizona, led by Norddeutsche Landesbank and Societe Generale, plus $202 million of tax equity from Bank of America for Sierra Estrella.
- Plus Power secured $674.3 million of construction and term financing for three Texas batteries: $276 million for the 300 MW, 600 MWh Rodeo Ranch, $196 million for the 200 MW, 400 MWh Ebony and $202.3 million for the 200 MW, 400 MWh Anemoi, led by Deutsche Bank and First Citizens Bank.
- Foss & Company provided $212.2 million of tax equity for Plus Power's Rodeo Ranch battery in Pecos, Texas, which achieved commercial operation in November 2023.
- Across the four Plus Power transactions, the two Arizona projects raised about $2.66 million per MW of capacity, while the three Texas projects raised about $1.27 million per MW.
How was the $1.8 billion put together?
As four separate transactions, two per state. Each state has a bank debt package and a tax equity investment, and Leap logs each one as its own record. The debt packages carry most of the weight. Tax equity is an investment from a party that can use the federal tax credits a project generates, in exchange for a share of its early cash flows. It fills part of the gap between what lenders will provide and what the project costs.
In Arizona, Norddeutsche Landesbank and Societe Generale were the coordinating lead arrangers on the $701 million facility, with Mizuho, U.S. Bank, Bank of America, CoBank and Siemens Financial Services as joint lead arrangers. Bank of America then added $202 million of tax equity for Sierra Estrella. Leap's tax equity record puts Sierra Estrella's share of the debt at $505 million.
In Texas, Deutsche Bank and First Citizens Bank were coordinating lead arrangers on the $674.3 million package, with First Citizens as administrative agent and Siemens Financial Services as joint lead arranger. The North American Development Bank joined the consortium. Foss & Company provided the $212.2 million of tax equity, all of it for Rodeo Ranch.
Why does Arizona take half the money for a third of the capacity?
Because the money follows the projects, not the megawatts. The two Arizona batteries total 340 MW and raised $903 million. The three Texas batteries total about 700.6 MW and raised $886.5 million. Per MW of power capacity, Arizona raised about $2.66 million and Texas about $1.27 million, a ratio of roughly two to one.
Sierra Estrella is the main driver. With $505 million of debt and $202 million of tax equity, it carries about $2.83 million of financing per MW. The two newer Texas batteries, Ebony and Anemoi, raised about $1 million per MW each, entirely in debt. Rodeo Ranch, with tax equity on top of its debt, sits at about $1.62 million per MW.
Battery cost scales with energy capacity, measured in MWh, as well as power, measured in MW. The ratio between them is the battery's duration, meaning how many hours it can discharge at full power. All three Texas batteries are two-hour systems. Leap's financing records do not state the energy capacity or the offtake terms of the Arizona projects, so the gap cannot be fully explained from the records alone. What the records do show is that tax equity was available only for Sierra Estrella in Arizona and Rodeo Ranch in Texas, and those two projects carry the highest financing per MW in their states.
Where were the projects in their build?
At very different points. Enerdatics estimates construction of Rodeo Ranch began in September 2021, and it reached commercial operation in November 2023, a month after the financing closed. Sierra Estrella started construction in April 2023 with operation reported for December 2024. Superstition was expected to start construction in October 2023 and was reported to reach operation by June 2024. Enerdatics estimates Ebony and Anemoi each started construction in October 2023. Leap records Ebony reaching commercial operation in December 2024, with Anemoi anticipated by the same month.
That spread matters for the lenders. Rodeo Ranch was effectively a completed asset at financial close, while the other four were early in construction. The Texas package mixes the two, so a battery one month from operation sits in the same financing as two that were just starting to build.
Enerdatics records 53 battery financings in the US in 2023. Excluding manufacturing and corporate raises, the next largest project-level package was Aypa Power's, which combined a $550 million bank financing in November and $350 million of tax equity in October for projects in CAISO and ERCOT, about $900 million in total. Broad Reach Power's $435 million and Clearway's $421 million for the Rosamond Central battery followed. Plus Power's four records, at $1,789.5 million, are roughly twice Aypa's combined total.
What does the deal signal for US battery storage?
It signals that banks and tax equity investors were ready to fund storage at portfolio scale in 2023. Nine named commercial lenders, a development bank and two tax equity providers sat across two packages in two states, announced on the same day. Packages of this size were rare in Leap's 2023 storage data.
It also shows how much of storage financing tax credits were carrying. Tax equity provided about 23 percent of the total, concentrated in the two largest projects. Tax equity has been doing the same job across US renewables, as in Lightsource bp's $97.9 million tax equity raise for a Texas solar project.
For Plus Power, the package funded its Texas and Arizona build-out. The company later raised financing for New England batteries too, covered in Plus Power's $160 million financing for two New England batteries.
Frequently asked questions
How much financing did Plus Power raise for its Texas and Arizona batteries?Plus Power raised about $1.8 billion across four transactions announced on 17 October 2023: $701 million of debt and $202 million of tax equity in Arizona, and $674.3 million of debt and $212.2 million of tax equity in Texas.
Which Plus Power projects did the financing cover?It covered Sierra Estrella (250 MW) and Superstition (90 MW) in Arizona, and Rodeo Ranch (300 MW), Ebony (200 MW) and Anemoi (200 MW) in Texas.
Who provided tax equity to Plus Power?Bank of America provided $202 million of tax equity for Sierra Estrella in Arizona, and Foss & Company provided $212.2 million for Rodeo Ranch in Texas.
Ready to get deal-ready answers in seconds? Try Enerdatics Leap AI and access verified intelligence across M&A, financings, PPAs, projects, and energy market developments through natural language.
.jpeg)
