New York, NY, October 20, 2022 — Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (“GREC” or “Greenbacker”), a leading climate-focused investment manager and independent power producer, has purchased, through a wholly owned subsidiary, a portfolio of up to nine pre-operational solar projects from Norwich Solar (“Norwich”). When completed, the projects will lower power bills for local farmers and give new life to brownfield sites restricted from most uses.

The projects have long-term Net Metering Agreements in place with over 30 agricultural offtakers—local farms and dairies across the state. The net-metering aspect of the portfolio means that the utility will reduce the offtakers’ power bills by the amount of clean energy the projects supply to the grid. Each solar project is expected, on average, to save local farmers approximately $500,000 on energy costs over the lifecycle of the projects.

Along with helping farmers save money on electricity costs, Norwich expects the portfolio will generate approximately $7.5 million in local wages during construction, as well as provide local landowners with supplemental long-term income via land lease payments. Additionally, Greenbacker is also actively assessing the portfolio’s potential for agrivoltaics (that is, using project sites for both solar photovoltaic power production and agricultural activities).

The portfolio represents Greenbacker’s first transaction with Norwich, a developer, designer, and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) provider of clean energy projects throughout New England. Norwich will continue to perform EPC services for the portfolio.

Along with the clean energy and economic benefits these solar projects provide, three project sites will also transform previous brownfields into sources of cheaper renewable power. The Andover project is located on part of a reclaimed gravel pit no longer in operation, and the Thetford Post Mills and Putney Green Acres projects are located on an abandoned landfill and former paper sludge disposal site, respectively.

Each project will have a clean power–production capacity of approximately 840 kWdc, for a total portfolio capacity of up to 7.6 MWdc. Five of the projects are slated to reach commercial operation by the end of 2022, with the other four projects expected to enter operation by the second quarter of 2023.

Greenbacker’s fleet of clean energy projects comprises nearly 2.9 GW of generating capacity (including this portfolio and other assets that are to be constructed). Since June 2016, Greenbacker’s real assets have produced over 4.9 million megawatt-hours¹ of clean energy, abating more than 3.5 million metric tons of carbon.² Today these projects support over 5,200 green jobs.³

1 Data is as of June 30, 2022.

2 EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. Data is as of June 30, 2022.

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, 2022.

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New York, NY, January 27, 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 6.5-MWdc to-be-constructed solar project from Encore Renewable Energy (“Encore”), a preeminent integrated clean energy developer in the region. The South Street solar project, located in Middlebury, is now GREC’s largest solar asset in Vermont. Once completed, 100% of the clean energy South Street produces will be allocated to Middlebury College.

The South Street project can also contribute to a greener future—and lower energy bills—in ways beyond clean power generation. Green Mountain Power (South Street’s utility offtaker) intends to add onsite energy storage, which will make the project’s clean energy even more reliable and cost efficient.¹ The pairing of solar plus storage can lower consumer power bills by deploying cheaper saved energy during periods of peak demand and emergencies. Additionally, rather than installing traditional turf grass, there are plans to plant the land amid the solar arrays with pasture mix for local livestock to graze and pollinator-friendly vegetation that supports native bee and butterfly populations. These lower-maintenance options can help reduce site operation costs, while at the same time promoting healthy ecosystems.

The project broke ground with a ceremony in October 2021 that began with a blessing from Chief Don Stevens of the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation. Other speakers included Greenbacker’s Chief Operations Officer Matt Murphy and Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy, the latter of whom focused on the economic imperative of sustainable infrastructure investment and the role these projects must play in addressing the climate crisis.

South Street is the largest project that Greenbacker has acquired in Encore’s 2020 Vermont portfolio. Greenbacker’s expertise and existing operations and maintenance provider relationships in the state allow the company to create efficiencies of scale when it acquires additional assets.

The project will help Vermont progress toward its goal of obtaining 90% of its power from renewable energy by 2050.² The solar power produced by South Street is expected to provide about 30% of the Middlebury College’s total energy needs.³ The college, which reached its goal of carbon neutrality in 2016, is transitioning to run on 100% renewable energy by 2028.⁴

“We’re proud that South Street’s renewable power and responsible land stewardship will help facilitate a sustainable future in Vermont,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “And it’s an honor to power an educational institution like Middlebury College. Encore’s solar development expertise has been integral to the project’s success, and we look forward to partnering with them again down the road.”

South Street has a long-term power purchase agreement in place, as do the other projects in the portfolio. It was acquired at a preconstruction stage and is expected to reach commercial operation in the second half of 2022.

“Greenbacker has been a great partner in developing agrivoltaic solutions and this project is a model for the expanding benefits that a solar array can offer, including pollinator-friendly ground cover and a location for grazing farm animals, as well as a potential interactive learning opportunity for Middlebury students in the future,” said Chad Farrell, Founder and CEO at Encore Renewable Energy.

Greenbacker’s fleet of sustainable infrastructure projects comprises over 2.2 GW of generating capacity (this includes both South Street and assets that are to be constructed). Since 2016, Greenbacker’s real assets have produced approximately 3.4 million megawatt-hours⁵ of clean energy, abating 2.4 million metric tons of carbon.⁶ Today these projects support 3,200 green jobs.⁷

¹ Solar project brings Middlebury College closer to 100 percent renewable energy goal, encorerenewableenergy.com, October 12, 2021.

² Vermont state website, https://publicservice.vermont.gov/renewable_energy.

³ Solar project brings Middlebury College closer to 100 percent renewable energy goal, encorerenewableenergy.com, October 12, 2021.

⁴ Middlebury College website, https://www.middlebury.edu/office/energy2028/faqs.

⁵ Data is as of September 30, 2021.

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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 3, 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 15-project solar portfolio from NextSun Energy (“NextSun”). The NextSun operating portfolio, which totals 19.5 MWdc of clean power–generating capacity, expands Greenbacker’s footprint in New England and includes the company’s first asset in Rhode Island (North Smithfield, 1.1 MWdc).

The power-generating capacity of the portfolio’s component projects ranges from 0.6 MWdc to 5.0 MWdc. The projects all reached commercial operations between the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2017, and all come with long-term power purchase agreements already in place with utilities, municipalities, and businesses.

“As Greenbacker’s clean energy contributions to New England’s power generation landscape continue to grow, we’re particularly excited to announce our first renewable energy asset in Rhode Island,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “This portfolio also represents a successful collaboration with the solar development experts at NextSun Energy, with whom we look forward to partnering again in the future.”

“With the recent sale of our operating portfolio to GREC, we now have the ability to focus all of our bandwidth directly on developing future solar and battery energy storage systems,” said Jake Laskin, President of NextSun. “We couldn’t be happier with the partnership we have created with the folks at GREC and certainly look forward to working together again.”

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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