Cypress Creek Renewables announced the closing of a $450 million debt facility that will find the growth of the company’s strong solar and storage project pipeline.
The company’s projects aim to meet the US’ increasing demand for renewables.
In the past few years tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump on solar panel imports have forced U.S. companies to cancel renewable energy projects and hit sector ETFs.
Invesco Solar ETF (TAN), the largest solar energy equipment ETF, has fallen 7.3% since, and the solar sector looked bleaker after tariffs on solar panels forced U.S. renewable energy companies to cancel or freeze more than $2.5 billion in investments in major projects.
The 30% tariff is calculated for four years, with a reduction of 5% per year. Solar developers built $6.8 billion worth of large-scale installations last year, according to the Solar Energy Association.
The investment was driven largely by U.S. tax credits and lower imported panel prices, making solar energy competitive with fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal.
However, in response to the new tariffs, GTM Research, a clean energy research firm, lowered its forecasts for commissioning solar capacity for 2019 and 2020. in the USA by 20% and 17% respectively.
Energy project developers predict that tariffs will initially add 10% to the cost of installations. Cypress Creek Renewables, for example, was forced to cancel or freeze $1.5 billion in investment in new projects.
Developer Southern Current has made a similar decision on projects worth about $1 billion.