MidAmerican to raise $700 million for 579 MW AVSP

The AVSP is currently under construction.PRNewsFoto/SunPower Corp.

Berkshire Hathaway subsidiary MidAmerican Energy Holdings has issued $700 million in series A senior secured notes, to help finance its 579 MW Antelope Valley Solar Projects (AVSP). The notes will be due in 2035.

MidAmerican has begun raising funds to pay for part of its massive AVSP project, which SunPower is supplying and installing. MidAmerican has created a venture, Solar Star Funding LLC, which will issue the secured notes. Fitch Ratings has rated the notes BBB (stable).

MidAmerican acquired the project, currently under construction, in December last year for $2.742 billion. It is financing more than $2 billion of the projects through equity.

The AVSP are two co-locatd projects in Kern and Los Angeles Counties in California, near Rosamond. SunPower is employing its SunPower Oasis tracker technology for the vast installations, which will by some considerable distance the largest application of tracker technology in a photovoltaic power plant. The project is scheduled to be completed in 2015.

Fitch Ratings, in issuing its presale rates report, has indicated that the series A notes will be used to fund some of the "construction, start-up and transaction financing costs" on the project.

MidAmerican has a diverse power portfolio including over 6.4 GW of renewable energy generation capacity.