PosiGen procures $250 million debt facility to fund energy communities projects

May 15, 2023 Michael Schoeck

A Red Sox fan installs rooftop solar.

Image: Kat Knutsen Studios

PosiGen, a residential solar installer for low- and moderate-income families, has lined up a $250 million funding commitment from the direct lending infrastructure fund of Brookfield Asset Management.

The new funding commitment will provide expansion into additional markets nationwide for PosiGen, with a direct focus on serving households with high energy burdens who stand to benefit the most from transitioning to clean energy. PosiGen said the funding will be put to use in new states and communities prioritized by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with an emphasis on Energy Communities and Low-Income Communities.

Based in Metaire, Louisiana, PosiGen works to close the clean energy affordability gap by making solar and energy efficiency available to all homeowners regardless of income. To date, the company has deployed solar and residential energy efficiency solutions to more than 25,000 customers in 10 U.S. states.

“Deploying clean energy is no longer enough,” said Thomas Neyhart, chief executive officer of PosiGen. “It’s clear that for us to meet our climate goals as a nation and create an inclusive economy, we need to focus our efforts on clean energy jobs and equitable access to these technologies that provide savings to those who need it most.”

In conjunction with the Brookfield credit facility, PosiGen is renewing its long-term credit structure with the Connecticut Green Bank.

“Our partnership with PosiGen began in 2015 when an RFP to support low- and moderate-income homeowners was launched, bringing PosiGen to Connecticut,” said Bryan Garcia, president and chief executive officer of the Connecticut Green Bank. “The successful public-private partnership Solar for All helped increase solar deployment in LMI communities by 320% between 2015 and 2020. PosiGen continues to run campaigns in underserved communities helping those with the highest energy burden access solar and energy efficiency to reduce their costs.”

On April 4, the Internal Revenue Services issued guidance on energy communities, a section of the IRA that affords an additional 10% tax credit to the existing 30% solar investment tax credit for projects that are installed in designated energy communities. These include:

A brownfield site – defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant and certain mine-scarred land.
Statistical area – a metropolitan statistical area or non-metropolitan statistical area with a 0.17% or greater unemployment rate and 25% or greater tax revenues related to fossil fuel extraction, processing, transportation, or storage. These areas must also have an unemployment rate at or above the national average unemployment rate for the previous year.
Coal closure – a census tract (or a census tract directly adjoining such census tract) in which a coal mine has closed after December 31, 1999, or in which a coal-fired electric generating unit has been retired after December 31, 2009.

Formed in 2011, PosiGen has raised over $223 million in equity and debt to date from investors that include Magnetar Capital, Emerson Collective, Irradiant Partners, Activate Capital, The Builders Fund, SJF Ventures and the Kresge Foundation. The company has historically deployed solar and energy efficiency solutions such as heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) upgrades for black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities.

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