Ørsted and HASI Close Land Finance Deal Covering 6,600 Acres Across 1 GW of Operational Solar and Storage

HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital and Ørsted have closed a series of land transactions encompassing approximately 6,600 acres across three operational solar and battery storage projects, representing approximately 1 gigawatt of renewable capacity in Arizona, Texas and Alabama. The transaction covers Ørsted's Eleven Mile Solar Center in Pinal County, Arizona, the Sparta Solar project in Bee County, Texas and the Muscle Shoals Solar project in Colbert County, Alabama, all of which hold long-term investment-grade power purchase agreements. HASI has now provided land financings across 6 gigawatts of solar and storage projects in the past year alone, bringing its total land investment to more than 24 gigawatts.

 

The Land Financing Structure and Its Strategic Purpose

 

Under the transaction structure, HASI provides long-term financing secured by the land underlying the operational projects while Ørsted and its partners continue to own and operate the projects and deliver energy to customers. This land finance model allows renewable energy developers to unlock capital tied up in land assets without surrendering operational control or the long-term contracted revenue streams that underpin project economics. For Ørsted, the transaction optimises its capital position by monetising land value, freeing resources for future investment in new project development and construction.

James Giamarino, Chief Commercial Officer at Ørsted Americas, said the partnership with HASI allows the company to optimise its capital position for future investment while continuing to deliver energy to customers across the three states. Manny Haile-Mariam, Co-Chief Investment Officer at HASI, said the firm's expertise in energy markets and financial structuring allows it to offer competitive land financing products that deliver optimal outcomes for clients and their projects. The framing from both sides emphasises capital efficiency and partnership rather than distress financing, positioning land transactions as a sophisticated portfolio optimisation tool for mature renewable energy operators.

 

Read more: IPX Power Closes $4.95 Billion Financing for 1.15 GW Solar and 4.6 GWh Storage Project in California

 

HASI's Land Finance Platform and Market Position

 

HASI's 24 gigawatt total land investment across its portfolio positions the company as one of the most significant providers of this specific financing product in the United States renewable energy market. The 6 gigawatts of new land financings completed in the past year alone demonstrates the pace at which the product is gaining traction among renewable energy developers seeking to recycle capital from operational assets. The land finance structure complements HASI's broader portfolio of sustainable infrastructure investments spanning utility-scale solar, storage and onshore wind, distributed solar and storage, renewable natural gas and energy efficiency, with more than $16 billion in managed assets.

The investment-grade PPA credentials of the three Ørsted projects provide HASI with long-term, creditworthy counterparty exposure that aligns well with the risk-return profile it targets across its infrastructure portfolio. Operational assets with contracted revenue streams and proven performance histories offer lower risk than construction-stage investments, making land financings against such assets an attractive low-risk addition to HASI's asset base. The geographic diversification across Arizona, Texas and Alabama also reduces concentration risk within the land portfolio.

 

Explore OneStop ESG Marketplace: Solar energy

 

Outlook for Land Finance as a Capital Markets Tool

 

The Ørsted and HASI transaction reflects a broader maturation of the United States renewable energy project finance market, where multiple capital structures are now available to operators seeking to optimise the balance sheet treatment of different asset components. Land, as a long-lived, inflation-linked asset class with stable underlying value, represents a natural fit for long-term infrastructure capital providers such as HASI who are prepared to offer competitive financing terms in exchange for durable, low-risk exposure to the renewable energy sector. The growing volume of HASI's land transactions suggests increasing acceptance of this structure among renewable energy developers.

Whether the land finance market can continue to grow at the pace implied by HASI's recent deal activity will depend on the pipeline of operational renewable energy assets available for monetisation, the competitive dynamics among providers of similar products and the continued growth of renewable energy capacity in the United States. Sustained growth would reinforce HASI's strategic positioning as a leading specialist in sustainable infrastructure finance and demonstrate the commercial viability of land financing as a mainstream capital recycling tool for the renewable energy sector. The next phase of market development is likely to see additional financial institutions develop competing products as the total addressable market for land financing grows alongside the operational renewable energy fleet.