SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) today announced a collaboration with True Green Capital Management LLC (TGC) – a privately owned, specialized energy infrastructure asset management firm –to establish a $140 million fund expected to finance approximately 50 megawatts of SunPower® solar energy systems. Projects of interest are likely to include those with solar renewable energy credits, as well as integrated storage components, in California, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington, D.C. To date, 5 megawatts of SunPower installations destined for the fund are under construction in Massachusetts, and an extensive pipeline of commercial projects are in development.
"While U.S. electricity demand is on the rise, many U.S. states face closures of old coal and nuclear power plants, so we see huge potential in meeting that need with distributed solar power, especially in the Eastern U.S. where states are aggressively investing in solar photovoltaics," said Panos Ninios, True Green Capital managing partner. "We're excited to partner with SunPower, a U.S.-headquartered industry leader that is uniquely positioned to excel in the commercial solar market with its differentiating solar solutions, and its proven experience deploying them for commercial, industrial, and public customers across the nation."
As part of the three-year agreement, SunPower will deliver turn-key distributed solar electric power projects for commercial and public sector customers that will be acquired by TGC. SunPower will be responsible for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of distributed generation solar projects for the partnership, and will also provide operations and management (O&M) services to the projects.
"We're pleased to team up with TGC to advance the growth of the U.S. commercial solar market in states where there is enormous potential for businesses, universities and municipalities to benefit from clean and cost effective solar energy delivered by SunPower's market leading solar solutions," said Nam Nguyen, SunPower executive vice president. "TGC brings innovative financing capabilities that will enable us to offer competitive and creative financing to our customers in the Northeast."
About SunPower
As one of the world's most innovative and sustainable energy companies, SunPower (NASDAQ:SPWR) provides a diverse group of customers with complete solar solutions and services. Residential customers, businesses, governments, schools and utilities around the globe rely on SunPower's more than 30 years of proven experience. From the first flip of the switch, SunPower delivers maximum value and superb performance throughout the long life of every solar system. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, SunPower has dedicated, customer-focused employees in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. For more information about how SunPower is changing the way our world is powered, visit www.sunpower.com.
About True Green Capital Management
True Green Capital Management LLC is a specialized energy infrastructure asset management firm based in Westport, Connecticut with several private equity funds under management. TGC has invested into a distributed solar power generation portfolio across nine states including New Jersey, California, Massachusetts, Idaho, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Tennessee, and Vermont. The firm was founded in July 2011 and is led by a team of investment professionals with a proven investment track record and a demonstrated capacity to originate, finance, construct and operate distributed power generation investments.
True Green Capital is currently focused on the approximately $2 trillion distributed power generation market with an emphasis on the sub utility scale solar power segment. Thanks to rapid advancements in technology, the cost of distributed power generation, including solar, is now on par with traditional electricity generation sources and in many U.S. states it represents one of the few sources of new power generation infrastructure that can be added to the power network quickly, reliably and cost efficiently. TGC believes the continued increase of power prices and decreasing entry costs of distributed power generation technology will continue to lead to compelling investment opportunities which provide a stable cash flow stream with little to no correlation to the broader markets. For more information, please visit: www.truegreencapital.com.
