Nautilus Solar Energy and Greenprint Capital entered a $275 million tax equity partnership that will go toward between 25 and 30 community solar projects.
The projects, which are currently under construction, will deliver more than 130 MW of clean energy across Illinois, Maryland, New York, Rhode Island and Delaware. Once operational, Nautilus said it expects the projects to create 190 jobs in the communities they are built.
The investment is part of a broader $2.5 billion tax equity joint venture between Greenprint Capital and funds managed by AB CarVal.
As the long-term owner of the projects, Nautilus affiliate Nautilus US Power Holdco will be responsible for acquiring and managing customer subscriptions for the community solar projects, along with their construction, financing and maintenance.
With Illinois poised to become one of Nautilus’s fastest growing markets, Nautilus announced last month that it was moving its headquarters to Chicago. Over the next year alone, Nautilus said it plans to add over 100 MW of additional capacity to Illinois.
(Also read: Illinois powers up a new generation of community solar 2.0)
Nautilus currently has 146 operating community solar projects across 12 states under its management. Nautilus’s portfolio expanded into the Midwest at the start of last year when it acquired a 75.6 MW portfolio in Illinois. Later that year, the company expanded its portfolio in The Prairie State by partnering with TurningPoint Energy on four community solar projects that totaled 29.3 MW. In February, Nautilus acquired two additional community solar projects in the Illinois Shines program and grew its Maine portfolio to 160 MW after adding 78 MW of operational capacity in 2024.
Nautilus acquired up to twelve community solar projects in Minnesota totaling 16.8 MW. It acquired two community solar portfolios totaling 26.2 MW in Maine from BNRG Maine LLC. The company reached an agreement to acquire a nine-project portfolio with 54 MW of community solar assets in New York from Seaboard Solar. It also acquired two community solar portfolios in Maryland totaling 23 MW, comprised of six projects spread across the state.
Founded in 2006, Nautilus oversees community solar project financing, development, construction, maintenance and subscriber management.
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Hi Rachel
Being a homeowner with a solar power and battery backup, I appreciate your articles on home solar.
Can you please do a report on the company SunPower (California). It was in the news about going bankrupt and was bought out by Complete Solar which then renamed itself to SunPower. I think the reason they did that was because SunPower was claimed to be the oldest home solar company and was highly rated in that industry with, reportedly, the best battery backup system in the market ( SunVault). My research showed SunVault was superior to both Powerwall’s and Enphases’ batteries.
But now the new SunPower appears to not to have continued making the SunVault battery system but now offers off the shelf Enphase batteries to its customers. From your perspective of the industry, can you determine if this is true. Also, if the new Sunpower does not continue with this key SunVault product that it was highly rated for, I don’t see how it will have any unique offering to justify its publicly traded status on the stock market. It seems to me that it will be just another dime a dozen solar installer.