NEW YORK, Feb. 08, 2022 (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 20-MWdc pre-operational solar portfolio from TUUSSO Energy (“TUUSSO”), a Seattle-based utility-scale solar developer. The portfolio’s three 6.7-MWdc projects are Greenbacker’s first assets in Washington, a state with ambitious clean energy targets and strong support for renewables.
Located in Kittitas County, the projects—Camas, Penstemon, and Urtica—are all expected to reach commercial operation in 2022. Each have long-term power purchase agreements in place with the same investment-grade utility offtaker. When completed, the renewable power produced by the portfolio will contribute to the state’s goal of achieving carbon-neutral electricity production by 2030 and 100% clean power by 2045.1
“We’re thrilled to enter a new market with three projects that will deliver cheaper clean power to consumers,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “This expansion is the result of a successful long-term collaboration with the solar development experts at TUUSSO. We’ve been involved with the portfolio since the planning stage, and today we’re very pleased to include it in our fleet of renewables projects driving a clean energy future in the state of Washington.”
To help reach its clean energy goals, Washington has a number of supportive solar policies, including several tax exemptions for qualifying solar energy equipment and a net metering incentive, which allows solar owners to feed any unused energy back into the grid, offsetting their power bills by an equal amount.2
“Greenbacker has been a great partner on these projects, and we’re very pleased to reach this milestone,” said Owen Hurd, CEO of TUUSSO. “These projects would not have been possible without Greenbacker’s unwavering commitment, and the collaborative efforts of local landowners, the Washington Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, Puget Sound Energy, the Governor’s Office, and other individuals. We look forward to beginning commercial operation in 2022 and hope these projects will encourage more solar in our home state in years to come.”
Greenbacker’s fleet of sustainable infrastructure projects comprises over 2.6 GW of generating capacity (including the TUUSSO portfolio 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 Washington state governor website, https://www.governor.wa.gov/issues/issues/energy-environment.
2 “Washington State Solar Incentives,” https://powernw.com/washington-state-solar-incentives/, April 13, 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.
About Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company
Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC is a publicly reporting, non-traded limited liability sustainable infrastructure company that acquires and manages income-producing renewable energy and other energy-related businesses, including solar and wind farms. We seek to invest in high-quality projects that sell clean power under long-term contract to high-creditworthy counterparties such as utilities, municipalities, and corporations. We are long-term owner-operators, who strive to be good stewards of the land and responsible members of the communities in which we operate. We believe our focus on power production and income generation creates value that we can then pass on to our shareholders—while facilitating the transition toward a clean energy future. For more information, please visit www.greenbackercapital.com.
About TUUSSO Energy
TUUSSO Energy, LLC is a privately held developer of utility-scale solar projects. Founded in 2008, the company has developed projects in California, Arizona, Georgia, Maryland, and Washington. For more information, please visit www.tuusso.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. Although Greenbacker believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. Greenbacker undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained herein to conform to actual results or changes in its expectations.
Media Contacts:
| Greenbacker | |
| Chris Larson | |
| Senior Writer & Media Communications | |
| 847.313.9035 | |
| c.larson@greenbackercapital.com |
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d19d850f-cc8b-4a0c-aee8-383611634a99
