San Antonio’s solar buildout just landed a serious cash infusion. Ashtrom Renewable Energy and Bank Hapoalim have locked in roughly $200 million in financing for the El Patrimonio solar farm outside the city, a utility-scale project that is set to feed most of its power to CPS Energy under a 20-year deal and begin commercial operation in 2027. The loans are structured on a non-recourse, project-finance basis and led by Bank Hapoalim’s U.S. arm, BHI, marking a rare case of an Israeli bank heading a major American renewables deal without a local lending partner.
Deal and financing
Ashtrom said it reached financial close with Bank Hapoalim and BHI, securing about $200 million for El Patrimonio, according to The Jerusalem Post. The company also told reporters the package includes an agreement to sell production tax credits to a U.S. institutional investor rated Aa3 by Moody’s, a deal Ashtrom estimates at roughly $140 million. The financing is non-recourse, and the company pegs the total investment in the project at around $250 million.
Project details and timeline
Company filings put El Patrimonio at roughly 195 megawatts (DC), with construction starting in 2025 and commercial operation expected in 2027. Under the signed power purchase agreement, CPS Energy will buy about 70 percent of the farm’s electricity for 20 years, according to Ashtrom Group. Those same filings say key development milestones, including land rights and a grid interconnection agreement, are already in place, and that the remaining output will be sold into Texas’s open power market. Ashtrom frames El Patrimonio as a cornerstone in a broader pipeline of U.S. utility-scale projects.
Tax credits and revenue
Alongside the debt package, Ashtrom said it signed an agreement to sell production tax credits from the project to a U.S. institutional buyer for an amount it estimates at about $140 million, and notes the project may qualify for an additional 10 percent incentive under the Inflation Reduction Act’s Energy Community rules, per The Jerusalem Post. The company has floated a lifetime revenue projection in the low-to-mid billions, tied directly to those offtake and tax-credit arrangements. Structures like these have become standard fare in getting large American solar projects over the financing finish line.
Local context
CPS Energy has been steadily signing up big solar contracts in recent years and already receives power from Ashtrom’s Tierra Bonita facility. El Patrimonio will join that lineup and feed into the municipal utility’s portfolio as part of its broader procurement strategy, San Antonio Report noted. CPS’s bundled procurements are designed to add hundreds of megawatts of solar and tens of megawatt-hours of storage in an effort to diversify generation and cut emissions. Ashtrom has also said the build will feature local outreach, including scholarships and site tours during construction.
Why it matters
The financing close underscores the growing role of foreign capital and non-U.S. banks in Texas renewable energy projects and solidifies Ashtrom’s push into the ERCOT market. Both the company and press coverage describe El Patrimonio as a central piece of its U.S. strategy. “The project is a central pillar of our activity in the US market,” Ashtrom Renewable Energy CEO Itzik Marmelstein said in a company statement quoted by the press. For a region that has become ground zero for the nation’s energy debates, it is one more signal that big money is betting long on Texas sun.
