• Eyeing Michigan and Ohio for expansion, but community solar model needs to evolve
• M&A opportunities emerging rapidly in DG

As Nautilus Solar marks its 600 MW milestone, Laura York, the company’s Senior Vice President, discussed with NPM Nautilus’ priorities for 2026 and how it plans to position itself amid the rise of data centers.

As predicted, consolidation in the distributed generation industry amplified in the first half of 2026, with a rise of project portfolios and platforms hitting the market. York said the trend had little to do with the company reaching its first 600 MW, but it will play a major role in what comes next.

“We were already on this trajectory, and we had this backlog to execute on for the past couple of years, but we are seeing some very sizeable operating portfolios coming to market that can help us achieve the next level really quickly,” York said.

The company is looking at various early stage and operating portfolios, including some in Virginia, York said, where the company has yet to build a footprint.

“There’s a lot of M&A activity going on right now. I think we were all kind of stalled out for a bit trying to figure out what was happening with the ITC (investment tax credit), and there was a lot of uncertainty with transactions not going through last year but that’s really picked up in full speed right now with a real focus on executing on projects that have been safe harbored and driving these projects to completion over the next several years,” York said.

“A lot of activity and opportunity for Nautilus to come in and work with these partners to really execute and deliver these projects on time to meet the ITC qualification window,” York added.

The 600 MW milestone includes 165 solar sites across 12 states servicing more than 55,000 customers. Nautilus’s CEO Jeffrey Cheng said the company has invested nearly USD 2bn into the business and is already preparing for its next major growth phase of 750 MWs in the next 18 months.

Operating in markets such as Illinois, New York, and Maryland, Nautilus’s top markets, has provided the company with the right opportunities to scale and drive its growth.

“There’s still quite a bit of runway in existing markets to get through the next several years, but the community solar business model as a whole really does need to evolve if we’re going to expand into new markets, which is also something that we’re really focused on here at Nautilus, and how to expand beyond the traditional, historic community solar footprint and create new opportunities in new markets,” York said, pointing to Michigan and Ohio as markets where the company is exploring ways to make the model more politically viable.

Nautilus is also prioritizing more storage projects in 2026. The company already has a few solar-plus-storage projects in Illinois and plans to expand further because “storage is going to be a big part of the solution going forward,” York said. Its initial focus will be paired solar and storage in New York and Illinois, where the revenue structure is familiar.

“Illinois and New York are really great bridge markets to experiment and build our storage capabilities, so we’re definitely active in those markets and looking to promote more storage legislation going forward,” York said.

Nautilus finances, constructs, operates, and handles subscriber management for its projects.

NPM Interconnection Queues Data identified 13 pre-operational solar projects under development by Nautilus across more than 42 MWs.

Where DG meets data centers

York said the company is currently reviewing a white paper jointly developed by Piclo and Wattcarbon which outlines a model that offers DG projects a piece of the data center pie.

The Accelerated Community Energy (ACE) model empowers utilities and regulators establish a requirement that large load customers be required to procure local distributed energy resources to reduce system peak demand and associated capacity requirements. In return, data centers can achieve a faster path to energization and provide more benefits for the communities in which they are located.

The model proposes that utilities and regulators ultimately define the rules around load thresholds, percentage requirements, geographic boundaries, eligible resource types, performance standards, and compliance timelines. They retain full authority over what counts, where it counts, and how much is required, however utilities will not administer procurements. Large load customers will need to contract directly with distributed energy resource providers through an independent marketplace, selecting from competitive offers based on price, location, and capabilities.

“I think that’s where we see an opportunity going forward for the more traditional community solar business model,” York said, noting that the large-load customer would also help bring local jobs and tangible savings to the communities that are located in by sponsoring a project that community members can subscribe to.