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    $150M Generate Capital, KeyState Renewables Collaboration Strikes Again with 53.5 MW of Community Solar Projects for New York

    Aug. 23, 2024
    The projects are financed through KeyState’s solar tax credit platform and are expected to produce a combined 76.48 million kWh of solar energy in their first year.
    ID 268915180 © Yuri Arcurs | Dreamstime.com
    66c8aed07e5c0bd34ffbadc4 Community Solar Dreamstime

    Renewable energy investor Generate Capital and KeyState Renewables have closed their third joint fund to develop, build and manage 11 community solar projects in rural New York.

    The fund, Generate NY Community Solar VI, will create 53.5 MW of new solar direct-current power capacity. The closed fund consists of a $64 million investment from KeyState.

    Three of the 11 projects are in areas where development of renewable energy is incentivized to address unemployment and economic reliance on extraction or production of fossil fuels.

    “Accelerating the sustainable infrastructure transition requires investors to find creative ways to finance and deliver clean energy projects. We are thrilled to continue our work with KeyState on our tax equity partnership for community solar and provide the latest proof of the growing demand for renewable energy investment,” said Peggy Flannery, Managing Director at Generate Capital, in a statement.

    The projects, financed through KeyState’s SOLCAP solar tax credit fund platform, are anticipated to produce a combined 76.48 million kWh of solar energy in their first year to power up to 10,544 homes and reduce greenhouse emissions by 53,429 metric tons of CO2.

    Community solar is attracting investment from a wide array of developers and commercial and industrial customers. Companies which have invested and connected into community solar include Microsoft, Starbucks, Nuveen, Wendy's, Scale Microgrids and Honeywell, among others.

    In early 2024, Generate and KeyState signed a fourth fund agreement to continue their community solar investment partnership and bring additional renewable energy assets online. KeyState has invested about $150 million across three funds co-managed with Generate.

    The investment marks Generate Capital’s sixth fund with New York community solar projects and builds on Generate’s infrastructure-as-a-service model, which delivers financing, construction, and management of clean energy infrastructure.

    Generate’s infrastructure-as-a-service model is funded through different financing models including new and longstanding tax equity provisions.

    Community solar projects are envisioned as a less costly price point for potential renewable customers. They involve a subscription by customers, providing an alternative to expensive residential solar installment and also a more direct, localized generation resource than utility-scale projects.

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    Generate Capital invests in a broad array of energy transition sectors, from agriculture to e-mobility to energy storage, hydrogen infrastructure and renewables. The group has raised more than $10 billion for investments since its inception in 2014.

    Community solar deployment has accelerated in the U.S. this decade. Close to 7.5 GW of community solar projects are in operation nationwide, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

    Twenty-two states and Washington D.C. have enacted legislation to enable community solar development. 

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    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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