30-MW Texas Solar Farm Sold to MetLife and Longsol Holdings

The 30-MW solar farm is the largest active PV power plant in Texas. SunEdison completed the project and sold it to MetLife and Longsol Holdings for an undisclosed amount. The transaction was completed in December 2011.

The project was constructed by RES Americas, which will operate and maintain the solar farm for the next five years. After that time, SunEdison will oversee the operation and maintenance of the Webberville solar project for 20 years. The utility-scale solar project was made possible through a 25-year solar power purchase agreement with Austin Energy, which will purchase the electricity and environmental attributes generated by the project at a fixed rate over the life of the project.

“MetLife is proud to support efforts that truly drive sustainability, and we’re pleased to be working with Longsol on the Webberville Solar Farm,” said Steven J. Goulart, executive vice president and chief investment officer for MetLife, Inc. “This project aligns with MetLife’s overall high-quality investment approach and also builds upon the more than $2.2 billion we’ve invested in renewable energy investment projects.”

“After owning and managing 12 solar projects in Europe for the last five years, we are proud to acquire our 13th project in the U.S. with a strong partner like MetLife,” stated Pablo Diaz de Rabago and Javier Mellado, CEO & President of Longsol Holdings Inc. “SunEdison has developed a great project and we are proud to be part of it and look forward to working with SunEdison and MetLife on future projects. Longsol is committed to develop its footprint of investing long-term equity and managing solar projects around the world with the help of top developers and financing partners.”

“This is another testament to our abilities in developing attractive renewable projects for our investment partners,” stated Chris Bailey, Vice President, Project Finance & Corporate Development, North America at SunEdison. “SunEdison is proud of this deployment, and we look forward to working with MetLife and Longsol Holdings in the future. We are committed to expanding our utility scale development platform and delivering high quality projects to our utility and financial partners.”

The energy produced by the 30-MW project is expected to generate more than 1.4 billion kilowatt hours of clean, renewable energy over 25 years. That is enough energy to power more than 136,000 average U.S. homes (5,000 homes per year) while offsetting more than 1.6 billion pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.