Lightyears raises US$112.6M to build out NZ solar pipeline
What's the deal? Lightyears SolarDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has secured US$112.6M in late-stage funding from Japan's Obayashi CorporationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Australian infrastructure debt manager InfraDebtDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The package backs a pipeline of more than 300MW of solar and battery projects across New Zealand over the next five years.
The structure: Obayashi will invest US$47.9M in stages for a 90% stake in a new asset-holding company, LYOC1, with money released as projects hit development milestones. InfraDebt provides a US$64.7M lending facility, extending a relationship that began with its first New Zealand transaction in 2025.
What's the endgame? The funding lets Lightyears run more utility-scale projects at once, from a 14MW farm nearing completion in Reefton to a 15MW joint venture near Kuratau with eight Māori land trusts. Co-founder Matt Shanks said the backers are "ideal partners to support the next phase of growth," adding that new generation should "ultimately help lower energy prices for New Zealand people and businesses."
Why Obayashi? The Tokyo-listed construction group, worth about $13.1 billion, has named Japan and New Zealand as priority markets for its renewable energy business alongside its core construction work. The deal marks a further step in its clean-energy investment outside Japan.
The signal: The round ranks in the 86th percentile for size, and it lands amid a broader funding push into New Zealand solar — Lodestone raised $75 million in an October NZX float for its own pipeline. The combination of sizeable debt and a strategic overseas equity partner, tied to project delivery rather than a single asset, suggests investor capital is becoming available for the sector at scale.
Read more: itbrief.co.nz
Image credit: Lightyears Solar
