New York, NY, March 3, 2022 — Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (“GREC” or “Greenbacker”), a leading owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, announced today that, through a wholly owned subsidiary, it has purchased a 49% financial interest in the 150-MW operating Aurora solar portfolio from BlackRock Global Renewable Power Fund II (“BlackRock”). The portfolio, which comprises 16 solar projects in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, represents one of Greenbacker’s single largest acquisitions to date.

With this transaction, GREC continues to scale up its national clean energy investments and build out its presence in a state with a proven track record of supporting renewables. Over the last 15 years, renewable energy–generated electricity usage has increased from 6% to 24% in Minnesota,¹ which has the goal of making renewables 25% of its total energy use by 2025.²

“Aurora represents a huge stride in expanding our presence in the renewable energy asset class,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “We’re very happy that our successful collaboration with BlackRock and Enel Green Power North America is contributing to Minnesota’s important clean energy goals, and we look forward to partnering with them again in the future.”

Aurora has a long-term power purchase agreement in place with a creditworthy offtake counterparty. Projects with high-credit-quality offtakers contribute to Greenbacker’s strategy of owning renewable energy assets with reliable long-term revenue. All of Aurora’s component projects reached commercial operation between the fourth quarter of 2016 and second quarter of 2017, and each has a clean power–generating capacity between five and 15 MWdc.

The project’s original developer, Enel Green Power North America, holds the remaining 51% majority ownership.

Greenbacker’s fleet of sustainable infrastructure projects comprises approximately 2.6 GW of generating capacity (including Aurora and assets that are to be constructed). Since 2016, Greenbacker’s real assets have produced approximately 3.4 million megawatt-hours³ of clean energy, abating 2.4 million metric tons of carbon.⁴ Today these projects support 3,200 green jobs.⁵

1 Governor Walz, Lieutenant Governor Flanagan, House and Senate DFL Energy Leads Announce Plan to Achieve 100 Percent Clean Energy in Minnesota by 2040, Minnesota state website, January 21, 2021.

² State of Minnesota progress on clean energy goals published in Department of Commerce report, Minnesota state website, June 10, 2021.

³ Data is as of September 30, 2021.

⁴ Carbon abatement is calculated using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator which uses the AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) US national weighted average CO2 marginal emission rate to convert reductions of kilowatt-hours into avoided units of carbon dioxide emissions. Data is as of September 30, 2021.

⁵ Green jobs are calculated from the International Renewable Energy Agency‘s measurement that one megawatt of renewable power supports 3.8 jobs. Data is as of September 30, 2021.

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New York, NY, November 8, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (“GREC” or “Greenbacker”), a leading owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, announced today that, through a wholly owned subsidiary, it has purchased a pre-operational 11.3-MWdc solar project from OneEnergy Renewables (“OneEnergy”). The Fillinona project, which is located on four separate sites across Minnesota, builds out Greenbacker’s operations in a state with robust clean energy goals.

The project illustrates Greenbacker’s holistic approach to land management at its renewable energy assets. Two of its sites, Stockton and Fountain, will have pollinator-friendly vegetation planted beneath the solar panel arrays, to help support declining pollinator populations and contribute to a healthy local biosphere. The other two sites, Hazel (near Lanesboro) and Rushford Village, will be planted to provide grazing for nearby farmers’ sheep.

Land for the project is leased from local farm families and towns, generating reliable income for the landowners over the project’s life. Two of the sites are also part of an agreement to sell renewable energy credits to Stonyfield Organic, the country’s leading organic yogurt manufacturer, which has committed to having its dairy supply chain run on 100% renewable electricity by 2025.

Fillinona is slated to reach commercial operation in the fourth quarter of 2021, producing clean power for Fillmore and Winona counties in southeastern Minnesota. On October 25, 2021, the offtaker utility, MiEnergy Cooperative, hosted an event at the Rushford Village site to commemorate the project’s mechanical completion.

The project was developed and constructed by OneEnergy, a seasoned developer of community and utility-scale solar projects, and represents Greenbacker’s largest direct partnership with the company.

“Working on this project with OneEnergy and Stonyfield, two firms focused on healthy people and a healthy planet, has been a natural fit,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “Environmental health is a top priority for us—one that goes hand in hand with being responsible custodians of the land our projects occupy.”

“OneEnergy is excited to bring the Fillinona projects into operation and advance our partnership with Greenbacker and MiEnergy” said Eric Udelhofen, Development Director of OneEnergy. “We appreciate the trust our landowner and community partners have placed in us to see the projects from initial concept to operations, and we look forward to remaining involved as they transition to serving their communities with a dual purpose: clean energy production and ecosystem services.”

Each of Fillinona’s four sites have the same long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with MiEnergy, a rural electric cooperative whose consumers will soon start receiving locally generated clean energy from the project.

“In cooperation with Dairyland Power Cooperative, we’ve been able to enter into this PPA for local, renewable energy within our electric service territory,” said Brian Krambeer, MiEnergy president and CEO. “The strategic location of the arrays will provide wholesale power cost savings that will benefit all members of our cooperative.”

Greenbacker’s fleet of sustainable infrastructure projects comprises approximately 2.2 GW of generating capacity (this includes both Fillinona and assets that are to be constructed). Since 2016, Greenbacker’s real assets have generated 3.0 million megawatt-hours¹ of clean energy, abating 2.1 million metric tons of carbon.² Today these projects support 2,700 green jobs.³

¹ As of June 30, 2021.

² Carbon abatement is calculated using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator which uses the AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) US national weighted average CO2 marginal emission rate to convert reductions of kilowatt-hours into avoided units of carbon dioxide emissions. As of June 30, 2021.

³ Green jobs are calculated from the International Renewable Energy Agency‘s measurement that one megawatt of renewable power supports 3.8 jobs. As of June 30, 2021.

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New York, NY, October 27, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (“GREC” or “Greenbacker”), a leading owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, announced today that, through a wholly owned subsidiary, it has purchased two operating wind assets in Murray County, Minnesota, from PRC Wind. With these projects—Ridgewind (25.3 MWdc) and WindShare (5.4 MWdc)—Greenbacker continues to expand its presence in the North Star State and diversify its wind portfolio in the Midwest.

Greenbacker now owns three wind farms in Minnesota, including CWS (30.8 MWdc) in neighboring Nobles County, all of which are operational. Greenbacker also has three operating wind assets nearby in Iowa. These include Hawkeye, Elk, and Rippey, which have clean power–generating capacities of 37.5 MWdc, 42.5 MWdc, and 50.0 MWdc, respectively.

As Greenbacker continues to build out its operating wind portfolio in the area, the company benefits from greater economies of scale, helping it to generate cheaper clean energy for consumers. By deepening its relationships with regional service providers, Greenbacker can continue to optimize operations and maintenance expenses, both for these new assets and for its others in the region. The Ridgewind and WindShare projects also allow Greenbacker to build a relationship with PRC Wind, a company that has developed approximately 3.0 GW of wind energy projects since its founding in 1997.

“We’re excited to expand the renewable energy options available to Minnesotans,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “Our successful collaboration with PRC Wind—whose wind industry expertise was a substantial asset to this project—has enabled us to continue scaling up our wind operations and delivering clean, cheaper power to consumers in the Midwest.”

“At PRC, our mission is to develop renewable energy projects at scale,” said Paul White, Founder and CEO of PRC Wind. “We are thrilled that the wind farms we built will now benefit from Greenbacker’s strong ownership and asset management program.”

Ridgewind is an 11-turbine system that entered commercial operation in January 2011. It has a power purchase agreement in place with Xcel Energy – Minnesota. The company has a target to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2030 (from 2005 levels) corporate-wide and a vision to deliver 100% carbon-free electricity to its customers by 2050. (Greenbacker has also collaborated with Xcel Energy on renewable energy projects in the past). WindShare, a three-turbine system that currently operates on a fully merchant basis, reached commercial operation in April 2006.

Including the acquisition of these projects, Greenbacker’s fleet of sustainable infrastructure projects comprises approximately 2.2 GW of generating capacity (including assets that are to be constructed). Since 2016, Greenbacker’s real assets have generated 3.0 million megawatt-hours¹ of clean energy, abating 2.1 million metric tons of carbon.² Today these projects support 2,700 green jobs.³

¹ Data is as of June 30, 2021.

² Carbon abatement is calculated using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator which uses the AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) US national weighted average CO2 marginal emission rate to convert reductions of kilowatt-hours into avoided units of carbon dioxide emissions. Data is as of June 30, 2021.

³ Green jobs are calculated from the International Renewable Energy Agency‘s measurement that one megawatt of renewable power supports 3.8 jobs. Data is as of June 30, 2021.

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