Luminia, a San Diego, Calif.-based commercial solar developer, signed an agreement to acquire the development company behind the New Hampshire Solar Garden, a 15 MW community solar project portfolio the two companies constructed in 2022.
By acquiring substantially all of the assets of Portsmouth, N.H.-based NHSolarGarden.com LLC, Luminia picks up a community solar portfolio totaling more than 218 MW of projects. The company’s founder Andrew Kellar will join Luminia as vice president, development, as part of the transaction.
“New Hampshire Solar Garden has been an incredible partner and influential leader in establishing successful community solar projects across the Northeast,” said David Field, chief executive officer of Luminia. “As we continue to scale our community solar business, we are thrilled to welcome Andrew to our team to lead our internal origination strategy – directly and in partnership with co-development partners and strategic off-takers in key markets.”
To date the New Hampshire company has installed projects across New England, New York and New Jersey. The developer was the first to offer community solar offtake solutions in New Hampshire at a large scale. Its founder was instrumental in convincing municipalities to serve as offtake backstops for community solar assets, spearheading financing and fostering innovation in the region.
Besides its Northeast project pipeline, the company also has 140 MW of development assets for installation in Puerto Rico, for which this week the Department of Energy announced $1 billion in federal funding to procure new residential, community solar and energy storage projects across the island in the coming years.
“Having been part of the Northeast community solar development since its inception more than a decade ago, I am excited to share my perspective and build credibility with Luminia’s developer partners,” said Kellar. “Having been on the developer side, I know first-hand how Luminia allowed me to spend the majority of my day doing what I love, with the platform and people-support to tackle the financial and legal aspects of deals that occupied so much of my former capacity.”
Community solar is a growing market segment within the solar industry, with support from federal policies including the Biden Administration and the Department of Energy’s community solar pilot programs, and the Inflation Reduction Act’s ten-year, 30% ITC extension.
Luminia’s acquisition of New Hampshire Solar Garden will help support the growing demand for new community solar projects by providing financing and technology solutions for the deployment of community solar projects at a larger scale.
Formed in 2019, Luminia closed 2022 with over $2.5 billion in commercial solar financing requests across the U.S., representing close to 200 MW of commercial solar projects, with a development pipeline of 600 MW of additional projects.
In 2022, Luminia (formerly SD Renewables), offered financing solutions that catered to commercial property owners across 36 states. Its solutions range from multi-family and industrial real estate investment trust (REIT) portfolios to private education institutions and agricultural projects.
The company enables property owners to gain access to a range of sustainability and asset value improvements, such as EV charging infrastructure and water conservation improvements. The projects it supports vary in size and scope to meet state and municipal requirements, with an average project size of 9.5 MW. The five key markets for the company are Massachusetts, New York, Maine, New Hampshire and New Jersey.
“By eliminating the financing barriers that once hindered commercial solar progress, we are experiencing explosive demand from our top rated solar partners, especially in the burgeoning community solar space,” said David Field, chief executive officer and co-founder of Luminia.
Luminia’s solution was recently launched on Energy Toolbase’s ETB Developer platform, which helps developers to access power purchase agreement quotes and additional financing options that are intended to match their customers’ needs.
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