A company developing solar farms set to power data centers in Illinois has received project financing.
SunRocket Capital recently announced the completion of three separate construction-to-permanent funding transactions with Donato Solar, totaling $14.5 million in financing during the first quarter of 2024.
The three projects financed are located in central Illinois and have been designed to provide renewable energy for commercial data centers operated by Gail Technology, Inc.
The solar projects total 9.24MW – reportedly overproducing compared to the needs of the data centers during the day, with excess capacity going to the local utility and the grid.
Anthony Donato, CEO of Donato Solar & Gail Technology, said: “The team at SunRocket Capital has proven to be an exceptional financial partner. They operate with speed and efficiency and are very knowledgeable regarding solar development, a unique and important component of helping expedite financing.”
Derek Gabriel, Sr., COO and head of originations at SunRocket Capital, added: “Our financing, coupled with experienced solar developers and EPCs, quite simply helps solar energy projects deploy at scale because they can get constructed and operating with a single financial transaction. We’re excited to work with Anthony and his team to deploy a large portfolio of distributed generation.”
SunRocket Capital, formerly Sol-REIT, is a private lender specializing in funding solar projects.
Donato Solar is described as a developer of solar farms in Illinois. Gail Technology is focused on data center development and operations alongside solar farms in Illinois – the company’s LinkedIn page suggests they are cryptomining facilities. Both companies are led by Illinois businessman Anthony Donato.
SunRocket said it is set to fund Donato Solar’s 100MW project pipeline in Illinois; 30MW is slated for financing in 2024, amounting to approximately $100 million in financing.
To date, 30MW of capacity is currently operational, with an additional 40MW to be completed in 2024.
According to Microgrid Knowledge, Donato Solar received local approvals for the projects in late 2022 and has already started work on at least one of the installations planned for Champaign County.
