Green Bond Issuance Funds Regional Renewable Energy Projects

Colorado-based PlainsEdge Energy Cooperative today closed an oversubscribed $750 million green bond, the largest sub-investment-grade green issuance ever by a U.S. rural utility. The 10-year, 4.25 % notes were priced at 170 bps over Treasuries and more than 2.6× subscribed, with orders led by CalSTRS, Nuveen and BlackRock’s Global Green Bond Fund. Net proceeds are ring-fenced for 14 solar and wind projects totaling 1.2 GW across Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, accelerating the region’s shift from coal and supporting U.S. Energy Secretary Granholm’s target of 80 % clean electricity by 2030.

The transaction, certified under the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI) Solar & Wind Standard, brings PlainsEdge’s cumulative green-financed capacity to 3.4 GW since its debut issue in 2021. According to a 2024 IEA outlook, electrolyser and renewable investment is set to jump 150 % in 2025, underscoring investor appetite for shovel-ready clean-energy assets.

Independent verifier Kestrel Insights confirms the portfolio will displace 1.8 million tonnes of CO₂e annually—equivalent to removing 390,000 cars—and inject $1.1 billion of direct economic impact into High Plains counties over the construction phase.

Market momentum is strong. Global green-bond issuance hit a record $520 billion in 2024, with U.S. municipals and cooperatives accounting for 19 % of volume, CBI data show. The asset class has outperformed conventional utilities paper by 112 bps year-to-date, reducing issuer cost of capital and freeing balance-sheet capacity for follow-on renewables. PlainsEdge’s 2021 green issue, by comparison, currently trades 8 bps inside initial pricing, validating the “greenium” for repeat issuers that meet use-of-proceeds transparency metrics.

Construction on the first three solar sites200 MW in Morgan County, Colo., 150 MW in Sherman County, Kan., and 80 MW of wind in Red Willow County, Neb.—starts in Q1 2026, with commercial operation scheduled for late-2027. All projects have 25-year power-purchase agreements with investment-grade offtakers including Xcel Energy and Omaha Public Power District, locking in fixed cash flows that underpin bond amortization.

PlainsEdge is a not-for-profit generation-and-transmission cooperative serving 420,000 member-owners across 12 rural counties. The utility operates 4.1 GW of diversified assets and has committed to net-zero Scope 1 emissions by 2040. PlainsEdge has issued $1.4 billion in certified green bonds since 2021, all listed on the Nasdaq Sustainable Bond Network.