Solar technology manufacturer and developer SunEdison has closed a second round of funding with Barclays and Citi. It will be for distributed generation projects in the United States.
These projects will be in 12 states, including Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Others are in New England, the Mid-Atlantic and West Coast regions. Once completed, they will be sold to Terraform Power.
“The creation of this second fund, so soon after the first, speaks to the success of our relationship with Barclays and Citi. This latest round continues to support our business model of developing high quality commercial and industrial projects with efficient capital provided by great partners. This is a highly scalable model that allows us to make life easy for our customers. As a result, business is booming,” explained Ryan Bennett, a vice president of project finance at SunEdison.
Business is booming for commercial and industrial solar projects? You wouldn’t know it from the reporting of the mainstream press, however.
TerraForm Power is a global renewable energy company that invests in solar in various parts of the world. (It also owns wind, geothermal, and hydro projects.)
In the United States portfolio, there are 46 MW of solar projects in states like Arizona, California, and Massachusetts. They provide solar power to cities, schools, and corporations.
In the California portfolio, SunEdison has about 10 MW that supply electricity to prisons and one hospital.
SunEdison and TerraForm Power’s distributed generation projects have closed a total of $290 million.
Distributed energy is decentralized and often located near the load they supply electricity to, such as ground-mounted solar systems. It often uses renewable energy sources like solar, wind, and hydro. Distributed energy is used to supplement the main grid and enhance it.
The falling cost of solar PV has made it possible to continue expanding distributed solar power systems. It has even made this growth more predictable because solar power is no longer only a “green” thing — it is economically viable.
