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    Greenback Renewables acquiring three New York Community Solar developments

    Nov. 16, 2022
    Construction on those projects is expected to start early next year, and once completed later in 2023 should have a combined 8.7 MW in generation capacity
    Solar farm photo credit Greenbacker website
    Solar Farmland Square 637503d079a4b

    The investment wing of renewable energy asset manager Greenbacker Capital Management has acquired three developing community solar projects in New York.

    Greenbacker is buying the three planned solar farms from ReneSola Power Holdings. Construction on those projects is expected to start early next year, and once completed later in 2023 should have a combined 8.7 MW in generation capacity, according to the release.

    Each of the three are part of New York’s Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) program. VDER is a net crediting system in which consumers can elect to receive monetary credit toward energy costs in an amount equal to the power generated by the community solar.

    “Equitable access to solar power is critical to a sustainable energy transition, and we’re delighted that Greenbacker’s third community solar collaboration with ReneSola will help provide that access—particularly in our own neck of the woods,” said Mehul Mehta, CIO of Greenbacker, which is based in New York. “We look forward to continuing our successful track record and bringing more new solar power to the grid together.”

    Private investment in clean energy projects topped a record $105 billion in 2021 and expects to be rising going forward, according to reports from Bloomberg and other outlets. 

    Greenbacker and its investment vehicles have completed several previous deals with developer ReneSola, including both utility-scale and community solar projects.

    Since 2017, Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company—a clean energy infrastructure business affiliated with GCM—has purchased a North Carolina solar farm, three solar energy projects in Utah, and four Maine community solar assets from ReneSola.

    Greenbacker Renewable is headed by CEO Charles Wheeler, who joined the company in 2011. Prior to that, Wheeler had a 24 year career with global infrastructure investor and asset manager Macquarie Group, and held leadership roles including head of renewables for North America for the firm.

    More than 40 states now have community solar projects either completed, under construction or development, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. Those community solar sites already on-line total more than 5 GW of electricity capacity, the SEIA report shows.

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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