InterEnergy’s collaboration with Bank of America and the multilateral will scale renewable energy and infrastructure solutions in Small Island Developing States in the Caribbean
InterEnergy Group, one of the largest clean energy project developers, operators and owners in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and Bank of America, one of the world’s leading financial institutions, announced in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt at the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference, that InterEnergy’s Dominican Republic-based utility, Consorcio Energetico Punta Cana Macao (CEPM) will secure a green loan from Bank of America and a multilateral development bank (MDB) to support its investments in renewable energy and clean transportation infrastructure projects to achieve its goal of 100% renewable energy generation by 2030.
Bank of America Chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan initially announced the collaboration with InterEnergy at COP26 in Glasgow last year at the World Leader’s Summit as part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative, which was founded by His Majesty King Charles III in his former role as The Prince of Wales.
InterEnergy’s partnership with Bank of America will include a first of its kind, multi-asset, multi-jurisdictional warehouse financing facility which will support the construction and operation of eligible renewable energy and clean transportation assets located in the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Future phases will finance additional technologies including battery storage, wind generation, biomass and green hydrogen that will support CEPM’s net-zero-by-2030 goal (‘CEPM Zero’).
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CEPM is a leading electricity provider in the Dominican Republic, powering approximately 65 percent of the national tourism sector representing over 50,000 hotel rooms and more than 50,000 residential and business customers. Reaching net-zero emissions across the utility’s portfolio will require an estimated 501 MW of renewable energy assets and 120 MWh of storage capacity. The green corporate loan structured and arranged by BofA represents the first phase of Bank of America’s partnership with InterEnergy to support its build-out of solar and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
“The transaction will help advance a more sustainable future for the Dominican Republic and serve as proof of concept for similar efforts in the SIDS,” said Rolando González Bunster, Chairman and CEO of InterEnergy Group. “Our hope is that CEPM’s net-zero transition and blended financing structure will catalyze a flow of capital to clean energy and electric mobility infrastructure projects in the region.”
“As the world transitions to meet the critical net zero carbon emissions goals, it is crucial to ensure emerging markets’ access to global banking and capital markets for the financing they need to achieve their targets,” said Karen Fang, Global Head of Sustainable Finance at Bank of America. “This transaction is an important example of the impact that can result from collaborative, blended finance approaches, and we expect to replicate this in other SIDS and the Commonwealth countries that are vulnerable to climate change and historically lacked access to scalable transition financing capital.”
Bank of America is the sole structuring agent for the green A/B loan and acting as sole lead arranger and B lender, with the MDB acting as the lender of record. The loan is expected to have a three-year maturity and proceeds committed solely to the construction and operation of renewable energy assets. The transaction is expected to fund in December.
Source: Bank of America