This evening, at Gustavino’s New York, we hosted the IJGlobal Awards 2023 to celebrate transactions that closed over the course of the 2023 calendar year and the companies that drove them on to a successful conclusion.

The focus of this story is on the North American winners in the Deals Category for greenfield finance and refinance of infrastructure and energy transactions. 

To read about the winners for transactions closed in Latin America, click here…

Meanwhile, to read about all the winners from the Company Category for both North America and Latin America, Click here…

As with all IJGlobal awards, the company awards are chosen by an independent panel of industry experts, while the transactions are chosen – from submissions – by the relevant editorial members.

A total of 20 transactions were selected from the submissions to recognise their achievements. They are:

• Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year – Gigapower
• Transport Deal of the Year, Mass Transit – MTA Subway Upgrade P3
• Transport Deal of the Year, Airports – JFK’s NTO refinancing
• Transport Deal of the Year, Roads – Puerto Rico Toll Road Monetisation
• Water Deal of the Year, Desalination – Claude Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant Upgrade
• Water Deal of the Year, Water Treatment – Fort Lauderdale Water Treatment Plant Redevelopment P3
• Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year – Eastern Michigan University
• Renewables Deal of the Year, Onshore Wind – SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind
• Renewables Deal of the Year, Offshore Wind – Vineyard Wind Tax Equity Financing
• Renewables Deal of the Year, Other – Sun Streams 4
• Renewables Deal of the Year, Energy Storage – Vikings Solar Energy Generation and Battery Storage Project
• Renewable Energy Deal of the Year, NCRE – AES Warehouse Facility
• Oil & Gas Deal of the Year, LNG – Rio Grande LNG
• Oil & Gas Deal of the Year, Midstream – Trinity Gas Storage Construction Financing
• Oil & Gas Deal of the Year, Other – ADCC Pipeline Financing
• Power Deal of the Year, Gas-Fired – Generation Bridge Northeast refinancing
• Power Deal of the Year, Other – Greenfield Energy Centre
• Refinancing Deal of the Year, Power – Lackawanna Energy Center
• Refinancing Deal of the Year, Airports – JFK’s NTO refinancing
• Energy Transition Deal of the Year – Linden Renewable Energy RNG Facility

Digital Infrastructure Deal of the Year

Gigapower

A joint venture between AT&T and BlackRock formed Gigapower which will deploy a multi-gig fibre network to several new metro areas in Alabama, Florida, Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania.

It wins digital infrastructure deal of the year because it is a first-of-its-kind carrier-backed open access FttH platform in the US.

As Gigapower's first tenant, AT&T will serve as the anchor ISP on the network and benefit from a 2-year exclusivity period, after which, other ISP tenants can be served.

The loan proceeds will finance the construction and connection costs as well as associated soft costs for the 1.5m homes targeted by Gigapower by 2025.

The financing consists of a 7-year US$1.64 billion delayed draw term loan facility with an availability period of 5 years, and a US$15 million revolving credit facility with a tenor of 7 years. The transaction was underwritten by a group of 10 leading project finance, infrastructure, and TMT banks and closed in May 2023. Retail syndication closed in August 2023, which resulted in oversubscription.

Transport Deal of the Year, Mass Transit

MTA Subway Upgrade P3

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority closed its first PPP in May 2023 for the upgrade of 13 New York City subway stations under standards compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).

It wins transport deal of the year, mass transit in recognition for its technical complexity involving the installation of elevators in a dynamic operating environment. It also represents key progress toward making the NYC subway fully ADA-accessible.

The project is part of MTA’s current US$56 billion Capital Programme, with more than US$5 billion dedicated to making stations accessible with elevators and ramps to make the New York City subway system more accessible by 2055.

The contract has a 15-year maintenance period, which commences at substantial completion of the project, and has 2 additional 5-year option periods. The contract is structured as an availability payments P3 with ongoing payments to the developer for capital and maintenance throughout the term of the contract.

The project includes installation of 21 new elevators, path-of-travel improvements and associated state-of good repair work to 14 existing elevators to make stations accessible.

The project was financed using series 2023 bonds split into $135.5 million revenue bonds – series 2023B with a 30 June 2051 maturity and interest rate of 6.971% and $191.7 million bonds – series 2023A with a 31 October 2027 maturity.

Transport Deal of the Year, Airports and Refinancing Deal of the Year, Airports

JFK’s NTO refinancing

A portion of the costs related to JFK’s New Terminal One (NTO) project were refinanced in December 2023 with $2 billion worth of fixed rate green bonds, winning it transport deal of the year, airports. Of this amount, $800 million was insured by Assured Guaranty Municipal (AGM).

The bonds are fully amortizing and split as $97,995,000 of bonds due in 2042, 2043, 2044; $217,510,000 of a term bond due in 2049; and $484,495,000 of a term bond due in 2060.

At the time of refi close, Lorne Potash, managing director, infrastructure finance, Americas, said: “Assured Guaranty’s bond insurance on $800 million of bonds helped to optimize the cost for this important oversubscribed $2 billion financing and we are thrilled to have played such a significant role in what has resulted in a remarkable execution by Citi on behalf of New Terminal One for such a high-profile transaction. This is precisely the kind of meaningful value-add that AGM is positioned to deliver for large infrastructure projects through its cost savings and capacity.”

“This project is the largest US P3 transportation project to date and is one of the largest insured bond transactions Assured Guaranty has participated in during the post global financial crisis era,” said Sam Nakhleh, Assured Guaranty’s director, infrastructure finance, Americas.

JFK New Terminal One is the single largest airport P3 project in the US which reached financial close in June 2022. The project will result in a 2.4m square foot state-of-the art terminal that will support an expected 10+ million passenger enplanements.

Transport Deal of the Year, Roads

Puerto Rico Toll Road Monetisation

Puerto Rico’s $5.2 billion toll road monetisation P3 project reached financial close In December 2023, the largest highway privatisation process ever carried out in the Commonwealth and winning it transport deal of the year in the roads category.

The concession involves the upgrade and O&M of 4 toll roads and will boost the efficiency of the island’s last remaining public toll roads, which account for more than 60% of traffic. They are strategically connected to metropolitan and high-population areas such as San Juan, the region's capital.

A $2.85 billion upfront concession payment from the sponsors will be made to the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA), making it one of the largest upfront concession payments to a public sponsor for a surface transport asset.

The P3 contract includes the PR-20, PR-52, PR-53 and PR-66. The PR-52, PR-66 and PR-20 are highly strategic motorways connecting to the San Juan metropolitan area, while PR-53 is located in the southern and eastern parts of the Island.

Originally the toll roads were operated by the public PRHTA but in recent years the organisation has faced funding constraints, raising capital costs, and outstanding debt on assets amount to some $1.6 billion.

The challenges have resulted in sub-optimal road conditions, increased congestion, lack of sustainability and safety concerns on the toll roads.

The P3 funding model will allow the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA) – which filed for bankruptcy in 2017 – to pay off all its debt and turn its attention to the rest of the island’s public highways.

Water Deal of the Year, Desalination

Claude Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant Upgrade

The Carlsbad Desalination Plant in California is the first large-scale ocean-water desalination project constructed in the Western hemisphere. The project will help support future water supply for a significant region in the San Diego County.

Poseidon Resources (Channelside), the owner of the plant raised financing to fund capital improvement works, principally to ensure compliance with applicable regulations related to offsetting the environmental impacts of the plant’s operations and winning it water deal of the year, desalination.

Located next to the former Encina Power Station, the Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant provides around 54 million gallons of desalinated seawater per day to the San Diego County.

Financing for the project closed in March 2023 and included US$160 million of tax-exempt Private Activity Bonds, a US$170m WIFIA Loan, and a US$55m follow-on equity investment by the sponsor.

The proceeds from the financing will be used on development costs, construction costs, and other uses of cash related to marine work that will include the construction of 1mm dual flow screens to provide seawater to the Plant.

Financing will also be used on the creation, restoration, and enhancement of over 125 acres of coastal wetlands to benefit native fish, wildlife, and plant.

There is also a refinancing of an existing bank loan that was utilised to design, procure, and install fish friendly dilution pumps.

San Diego County has faced intermittent drought conditions in the last few decades, with severe droughts occurring more frequently in recent years exacerbated by the impacts of climate change. The financing of the projects will allow the plant to stay in compliance with the Ocean Plan Amendment regulations required by the California State Water Resources Control Board and other environmental regulations. It will also allow it to continue producing over 10% of the county’s water supply and remain a critical component of the county’s water security.

Water Deal of the Year, Water Treatment

Fort Lauderdale Water Treatment Plant Redevelopment P3

The Prospect Lake Clean Water Centre will be able to withstand a Category 5 hurricane and is expected to be completed by October 2026. It has a 30-year concession and involves the construction, operation and maintenance of a state-of-the-art membrane-based water treatment facility that will replace the City’s existing Fiveash Regional Water Treatment Plant that was built in 1954 and far exceeds its useful economic life.

The project will use nanofiltration and ion exchange technology to treat the water and deploys a novel approach to financing P3s in the US water sector where many water assets are in dire need of modernisation and improved resilience.

In a first-of-a-kind approach, the equity investors will fund 25% of the project costs while the City of Fort Lauderdale will combine the risk transfer to their private partners for delivery and long-term maintenance of the project with low-cost financing raised separately by the city to fund 75% of the project costs. For this reason, it has been selected to win water deal of the year, water treatment.

Financial close occurred in February 2023 with a team led by Ridgewood Infrastructure and IDE Technologies.

At the time of signing, Michael Albrecht, managing partner at Ridgewood, said: “What's unique in this case is, traditionally in a P3 the private sector both provides the equity and places the debt. In this transaction, the private sector is providing the equity, but the city is placing the debt."

Albrecht added: "My expectation is that other cities and private participants will try to emulate this, just given the collaborative and novel approach to it, which is exciting, because the demand for capital to rehabilitate America's infrastructure well exceeds the government funding for it.”

Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year

Eastern Michigan University

CenTrio-owned Eagle Energy Partners (EEP) reached financial close on a 50-year concession to modernise and manage the utility infrastructure at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) P3 in June 2023.

The financing includes a $115 million upfront payment to the university and $50 million for infrastructure improvements. The university will retain ownership of the facilities during the 50-year concession and control over decisions regarding capital improvements.

The partnership will result in a significant energy consumption reduction and decrease GHG by nearly 40% and water usage by 20% over time, making it the winner of the social infrastructure deal of the year category.

Many academic institutions face the challenge of addressing their primary mission – providing students with the best possible experience – while also grappling with operational issues which includes using campus space wisely, maintaining community relations and tending to aging infrastructure. These same issues challenged Eastern Michigan University, whose 53M sqft campus serving around 22,000 students needed an infrastructure upgrade to modernise utility systems and create more efficient and sustainable energy systems.

The initial modernisation project includes all steam, chilled water and power facilities for the 1,000-acre main campus. Additionally, the project is expected to draw a diverse, inclusive and local team to achieve these goals.

Renewables Deal of the Year, Onshore Wind

SunZia Transmission and SunZia Wind

SunZia is a transformative and impactful renewable energy project, comprising of 2 mega wind projects in New Mexico with a combined capacity of 3.5GW, the construction of 2 high voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations, a 345kV switchyard to connect SunZia Wind to the HVDC station, and a circa 550-mile 525kV HVDC transmission line in New Mexico and Arizona as well as 2 0.75-mile 500kV alternating current tie-lines.

Under the 30-year transmission service agreement, SunZia Wind will use 100% of the SunZia Transmission’s transmission capacity to deliver power from New Mexico to Arizona where it will connect to existing transmission networks and sell output in the CAISO and Arizona markets.

The Projects will utilise best-in-class technology from reputable, highly experienced manufacturers, including GE, Vestas, and Hitachi.

The wind project secured 6 long-term bundled PPAs for 1,390MW of capacity, a standalone RA contract for 135MW, and another 5 bundled PPAs are in development for around 730MW of capacity. The PPAs are with a diversified pool of California load serving entities with the majority being investment grade. No single offtaker accounts for more than 20% of revenue. The project is expected to secure additional PPAs during construction for at least 65% of capacity by COD.

The wind and transmission projects will be developed and constructed by Pattern in New Mexico and once complete, will represent the largest clean energy infrastructure project in US history making it the clear winner for renewables deal of the year, onshore wind.

Renewables Deal of the Year, Offshore Wind

Vineyard Wind Tax Equity Financing

Vineyard Wind 1 is an 800MW project located 15 miles off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard and will be the first commercial scale offshore wind project in the US. In October 2023, a first-of-its-kind tax equity package for commercial-scale offshore wind with 3 US-based banks reached final close. The $1.2 billion dollar investment transaction was reached with JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, making it the largest single asset tax equity financing and the first for a commercial scale offshore wind project.

This renewable deal of the year, offshore wind, will allow Massachusetts to move closer to its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030.

Vineyard Wind 1 is a joint venture offshore wind development company that is 50/50 owned by funds of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) and Avangrid Renewables.

At the time of closing the tax equity package, Congressman Bill Keating representing Massachusetts’s 9th District, said: “The closing of this transaction marks a critical step for the financing of Vineyard Wind 1, and in turn for our clean energy economy and the union jobs that have been guaranteed through the first-of-its-kind Project Labor Agreement between Vineyard Wind and the Massachusetts Building Trades.”

Renewables Deal of the Year, Other

Sun Streams 4

The 377MWdc solar PV and 300MWac/1200MWh storage BESS facility is in Maricopa County, Arizona and is sponsored by Longroad Energy. It is the company’s largest solar and storage project to date, both by megawatts and investment capital, and was financed via a consortium of lenders.

Sun Stream 4’s total output – enough to power 120,000 homes – is to be purchased by Arizona Public Service via a long-term 20-year PPA. It is the third project in the Sun Streams cluster of projects owned by Longroad.

The transaction is comprised of 5 debt facilities: a C+5 construction to term loan, 20-month tax equity bridge loan, PPA letter of credit, DSR letter of credit, and ASLD letter of credit.

Sun Streams 4 is expected to employ over 200 people during construction and will pay prevailing wage, utilising registered apprentices in accordance with the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as well as contribute over $100 million in revenue to Arizona public schools and committees over the estimated useful life of the facility through its long-term leases with the state land and tax departments.

The project will represent over 625,000 metric tons of avoided CO2 emissions annually, which is the equivalent of removing about 140,000 gas-powered cars from the road, making it the renewables deal of the year winner in the ‘other’ category.

Additionally, wildlife protection has been taken into consideration by adding in specific corridors for wildlife passing to protect native species in the area.

Renewables Deal of the Year, Energy Storage

Vikings Solar Energy Generation and Battery Storage Project

The Vikings solar-plus-storage project in Imperial County, California, is a 157MWDC PV solar energy generating system combined with a 150MW/600Mwh BESS. The project will help address the increasing demands of energy supplier San Diego Community Power, a Community Choice Aggregator. It also brings California closer to its goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045.

Additionally, this project will be one of the first solar peaker plants in the US. Operation is expected to commence in Q3 2024, using First Solar thin-film solar modules and Tesla Megapack for BESS.

The deal is one of the first utility-scale solar-plus-storage ITC and PTC transfer agreements since the US Treasury announced the guidance for tax transferability in June (2023) making renewables deal of the year, energy storage.

The project was financed with a US$228 million construction facility and US$72 million ITC transfer bridge loan facility.

The Vikings project is an important advancement in project finance. Peaker plants contradict the notion that renewable energy is unreliable but can instead, serve a key role in the energy grid by operating during periods of peak energy demand. Historically, these have been fossil-fuelled, and high in greenhouse gas emissions. However, Vikings peaker plant proves that renewable energy solutions can be equally reliable during times of high demand and cost significantly less while avoiding greenhouse gas emissions.

Oil & Gas Deal of the Year, LNG

Rio Grande LNG

The Rio Grande Project is the largest privately funded infrastructure project in the State of Texas, the largest greenfield LNG project built in one phase and the largest non-recourse project financed project in the US, making it oil & gas deal of the year, LNG.

Financial close was reached in July 2023 on circa US$18.4 billion of project finance for the Rio Grande Project. Phase 1 of the Rio Grande Project consists of 3 liquefaction trains and two LNG tanks, with a nameplate capacity of 17.6 million metric tonnes annually.

The overall LNG facility will occupy 750 acres of greenfield, including 182 acres of wetlands, on a 984-acre waterfront tract in the Port of Brownsville. Alongside financial close, NextDecade issued a final investment decision and full notice to proceed.

This mega project is the first and only US LNG project offering CO2 emissions reduction of more than 90% via planned carbon capture and storage – capturing and permanently storing more than 5 million metric tonnes of CO2 per year, equivalent to removing more than one million vehicles from the road annually.

Oil & Gas Deal of the Year, Midstream

Trinity Gas Storage Construction Financing

Trinity Gas Storage is owned by midstream energy project developer Sage Creek Energy Partners. The storage facility will have a capacity of approximately 24Bcf in phase I and 50Bcf in phase II. The project will be the first greenfield gas storage facility made in Texas in more than 10 years. For this reason, it was selected oil & gas deal of the year, midstream.

The project is a 24 Bcf greenfield, underground natural gas storage facility located southeast of Dallas in Bethel, Texas. It will comprise the conversion and repurposing of 2 adjacent, depleted reservoirs.

The demand for gas storage security has increased drastically in recent years and as a result, the project was able to secure long-term contracts at rates that justify greenfield gas storage development. Th repayment structure included 5% scheduled amortisation and a sweep to target debt balance to mitigate re-contracting risk towards the end of the loan tenor.

Trinity represents a critical transitional component for the diverse energy portfolio needed in ERCOT. It will play a key role in enhancing reliable natural gas supply to the Texas market. This innovative natural gas storage facility is a great example of advancing sustainable and resilient energy solutions.

The natural gas storage developer will provide a buffer to balance supply and demand for natural gas, allowing continued service even during times of peak electricity demand.

Oil & Gas Deal of the Year, Other

ADCC Pipeline Financing

The ADCC Pipeline (Whistler Pipeline) project will see the development, design, permitting, engineering, procurement, construction, completion, testing, operation and maintenance of circa 40 miles in length pipeline, 42” mainline, compressor stations, meter stations, and associated land and facilities, connecting Agua Dulce to the Cheniere Corpus Christi LNG facility in Texas.

US liquefied natural gas exporter Cheniere Energy reached the agreement in July 2023. The ADCC Pipeline has been designed to transport up to 1.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas, expandable to 2.5 Bcf/d of natural gas, making it the oil & gas deal of the year winner in the ‘other’ category.

The Whistler Pipeline is owned by a consortium including MPLX, WhiteWater, and a joint venture between Stonepeak and West Texas Gas.

Power Deal of the Year, Gas-Fired

Generation Bridge Northeast refinancing

ArcLight Capital Partners consolidated its 2 portfolio companies, Generation Bridge and Generation Bridge II into a single entity called Generation Bridge Northeast (GBNE).

GBNE owns a portfolio of 8 operational natural gas-fired power plants within New York and Connecticut with a total net capacity of around 5.1GW which benefit from a mix of capacity tolling agreements, hedged energy margin, and merchant energy margins & capacity revenue.

The portfolio provides highly reliable, fast-starting natural gas generation assets that provide efficient dispatchable generation to maintain grid reliability during the energy transition to a carbon free energy future. The enhanced size, scale, and asset diversity of the portfolio improves cash flow stability, hedging opportunities, and cost saving synergies and represents critical high value infrastructure offering strong collateral coverage and attractive loan to value.

The portfolio was financed with a 6-year US$865 million term loan B and a 5-year US$100 million revolving credit facility.

The transaction is notable as it was a term loan B refinancing of one of the largest power portfolios in the Northeast, making it power deal of the year, gas-fired. Additionally, 2 of the portfolio’s facilities are baseload facilities that provide critical grid support in the NYISO and ISO-NE markets.

Power Deal of the Year, Other

Greenfield Energy Centre

The Greenfield Energy Centre (GEC) Refinancing deal wins power deal of the year in the ‘other’ category. It is a 1,005MW natural gas-fired combined cycle power facility and the largest combined-cycle power generation facility located in Ontario, Canada.

It was upsized with a tenor extension because Ontario IESO extended its existing contract with GEC by 7 years, securing more contracted, predictable cash flows under the Annual Net Revenue Requirement (contract for differences) IESO framework. 100% of the project’s nameplate capacity is underpinned with a long-term contract and a Clean Energy Supply Agreement with Ontario IESO.

Greenfield Energy Centre led the market in the transition from CDOR to CORRA, Canada’s new reference rate.

Refinancing Deal of the Year, Power

Lackawanna Energy Center

Lackawanna Energy Center is a 1,483 MW natural gas-fired combined cycle generating facility located near Scranton, Pennsylvania, providing reliable power to the PJM Interconnection as the market gradually transitions more toward intermittent renewables and battery power supply.

In August 2023, refinancing closed on a US$730 million term loan B and was notable for being launched and executed in the wake of Winter Storm Elliott, which in December 2022 resulted in over 45GW of outages throughout the PJM market, including Lackawanna. The transaction brought in an entirely new lender base, as the deal was moved from the commercial bank market to the institutional term loan B market.

The refinancing was the first term loan B transaction for a single-asset thermal power generator in over 2 years, largely due to lower institutional demand for thermal assets as investors focus more on ESG transactions.

Energy Transition Deal of the Year

Linden Renewable Energy RNG Facility

The Linden Renewable Energy (LRE) project in New Jersey is one of the largest food waste-to-renewable natural gas (RNG) projects in the US. A non-recourse $240 million debt package closed in December 2023 and SJI, Captona, and RNG Energy Solutions have partnered to construct the facility which will convert organic waste into pipeline-quality RNG that can be used for a variety of applications to displace fossil fuels.

The LRE Project will accept a wide range of feedstock including: food waste from industrial, commercial, and institutional entities; grease waste from restaurants and other food service establishments.

It will convert up to 1,475 tons of waste to produce up to 3,783MMBtu/day of RNG — the energy equivalent value of 30,200 gallons of gasoline per day.Multiple off-site food waste pre-processing and depackaging operations will also be constructed in New York City, New York State and New Jersey.

The project benefits from new legislation in NY and NJ that now mandates all organic commercial waste to be diverted away from landfill sites to greener alternatives such as Linden. Once operational, the project will be fully contracted for its RNG output under a 20-year take-or-pay agreement with an investment grade utility.

Because of the sustainable nature of the project, this ESG transaction was structured as a green loan, making it the energy transition deal of the year.

Renewable Energy Deal of the Year, NCRE

AES Warehouse Facility

The AES Warehouse Facility will fund the construction of primarily long-term contracted renewable generation assets in AES Clean Energy’s advanced stage development pipeline. The Warehouse Facility originally closed in December 2021 and was initially upsized to US$1.7 billion in September 2022. The most recent upsize to US$2.7bn closed in May 2023, winning it Renewable Energy Deal of the Year, NCRE.

This latest upsize is expected to bring up to 40 projects equivalent to 3.1 GW in combined capacity into the portfolio and the sponsor is AES Clean Energy.

The facility became the first revolver to include provisions enabling the advance on tax credits transfer following the Inflation Reduction Act enacted in the summer of 2022. Such lending against transferable tax credits is understood to be highly innovative in the market.