FuelCell Energy Announces Project Finance Facility with PNC Energy Capital
December 15 2015 - 8:30AM
FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:FCEL), a global leader in the
design, manufacture, operation and service of ultra‐clean,
efficient and reliable fuel cell power plants, announced a $30
million project financing facility with PNC Energy Capital, LLC, a
full service capital provider to the renewable energy and demand
side management segments of the energy industry. This facility
provides long term financing for projects that the Company is
developing under power purchase agreements (PPA).
PNC Energy Capital will provide financing
through a sale / leaseback structure to select project subsidiaries
formed and owned by FuelCell Energy. The financing facility
monetizes the tax benefits and cash flows from customer power
purchase agreements.
“PNC is committed to renewable energy,
dedicating resources and building expertise to customize finance
programs for the energy services industry,” said Dick Rai, senior
vice president and manager of PNC Energy Capital LLC. “As a leader
in megawatt scale class deployments of clean, efficient baseload
power plants, FuelCell Energy is an important strategic alliance
for us, offering long-term opportunities and, most notably, adding
fuel cells to our growing portfolio of clean and renewable
assets.”
Financing from PNC Energy Capital will broaden
FuelCell Energy’s financing capabilities, which is expected to
accelerate deployment of fuel cell projects. “We are excited to
team up with PNC and add this important and scalable financing
structure to our commercial deployment platform,” said Michael
Bishop, Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “This
efficient financing platform enables FuelCell Energy to retain
management of certain power purchase agreements and should further
enhance cash flows and service margins”.
The first project to close under this structure
is expected to be the previously announced 1.4 megawatt (MW) fuel
cell power plant which provides both electricity and heat to the
University of California, Irvine Medical Center (UCI). The power
plant will generate about 30 percent of the facility power needs,
while the heat produced will be used in a direct exhaust absorption
chiller to produce 200 tons of cooling for an office building and
associated institutional requirements. The installation is
expected to achieve commercial operations in December 2015, at
which time, the project will be financed under this PNC financing
facility. FuelCell Energy will operate and maintain the plant and
sell power under a long-term power purchase agreement to UCI.
The agreement with PNC Energy Capital is subject to achieving
certain customary closing conditions.
This financing facility provides FuelCell Energy
the choice to retain projects that it develops and to benefit from
the margin expansion opportunities inherent in the sale of power
and heat derived from the underlying power purchase agreement with
the off-taker. Revenue derived from the power purchase
agreements of the select projects will be recognized by FuelCell
Energy over the life of the project. This contrasts to the
outright sale of equipment which generates one-time Product
Revenue. “This financing facility with PNC exemplifies the
continued evolution of FuelCell Energy’s fuel cell projects to
investment opportunities for leading financial institutions,”
continued Mr. Bishop.
Fuel cells electrochemically convert a fuel
source into electricity and heat in a highly efficient process that
emits virtually no pollutants due to the absence of
combustion. The Direct FuelCell® (DFC®) stationary fuel cell
power plants manufactured by FuelCell Energy utilize carbonate fuel
cell technology and provide continuous power located where the
power is used, including both on-site applications and electric
grid support. The combination of near-zero pollutants, modest
land-use needs, and quiet operating nature of these stationary fuel
cell power plants facilitates locating the power plants in urban
locations. The power plants are fuel flexible, capable of
operating on clean natural gas, on-site renewable biogas, or
directed biogas. Deployments range in size from 1.4 megawatt
university and hospital campus installations to 60 + megawatt
utility scale fuel cell parks.
Energy financing is provided by PNC Energy
Capital LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PNC Equipment Finance,
LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of PNC Bank, N.A., member of The PNC
Financial Services Group, Inc.(NYSE:PNC).
About FuelCell EnergyDirect
FuelCell® power plants are generating ultra-clean, efficient and
reliable power at more than 50 locations worldwide. With more
than 300 megawatts of power generation capacity installed or in
backlog, FuelCell Energy is a global leader in providing
ultra-clean baseload distributed generation to utilities,
industrial operations, universities, municipal water treatment
facilities, government installations and other customers around the
world. The Company’s power plants have generated over four
billion kilowatt hours of ultra-clean power using a variety of
fuels including renewable biogas from wastewater treatment and food
processing, as well as clean natural gas. For additional
information, please visit www.fuelcellenergy.com, follow us on
Twitter and view our videos on YouTube.
Direct FuelCell, DFC, DFC/T, DFC-H2 and FuelCell
Energy, Inc. are all registered trademarks of FuelCell Energy,
Inc. DFC-ERG is a registered trademark jointly owned by
Enbridge, Inc. and FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Contact:
FuelCell Energy, Inc.
Kurt Goddard, Vice President Investor Relations
203-830-7494
ir@fce.com
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