Powering Portland General Electric’s future with innovative green financing

Bringing together experts from its Power & Utilities, Equity Capital Markets and Sustainable Capital Markets teams, Barclays structured a Green Use of Proceeds equity offering for PGE. The proceeds of this offering are being designated to construct a 311 MW wind energy facility, which will be part of the larger Clearwater Wind development in Eastern Montana, as well as additional renewable and battery storage projects.

This unique structure is different than other capital markets products proposed or in use today. Green bonds, which are the prevalent financial product utilised when public companies raise capital to support their sustainability goals, are a debt instrument that affects a company’s credit profile, and so may not be financially prudent in all situations. Sustainability-linked revolving credit facilities, which PGE has also utilised, link sustainability targets to benefits in pricing for liquidity, but are not a source of permanent capital. To date, proposed “green” equity structures would create a new class of shares rather than allow investors to purchase new common shares, restricting viability in many cases. The Barclays-designed Green Use of Proceeds equity offering gives investors publicly tradable common shares, whose proceeds are earmarked for investment toward its decarbonisation goals.