Dimension Energy executive talks growing portfolio and community solar programs

Pure play community solar developer, Dimension Energy, has spent several years gaining ground in states across the country to scale a pipeline that will need USD 3bn in capital to execute.

As reported, the company is planning to invest USD 3bn over the next five years, with more than 500 MW of operating community solar assets planned by the end of 2025. The operating portfolio represents USD 1.1bn of invested capital nationwide.

“That investment amount and those megawatts are not reliant on any future development—it’s all stuff that’s currently existing in our pipeline and open markets,” said Sam Younes, co-founder and chief development officer, in an interview with NPM.

To date, Dimension has 52 MW of operating assets, 190 MW under construction, 150 MW in shovel ready status, and another 1.5 GW of advanced pipeline, according to Younes.

Founded in 2018, Dimension traditionally sold projects to developers such as Nexamp, Generate Capital, and Algonquin, but in 2021 with a USD 400m commitment from Partners Group, the developer began to hold 100% of its assets.

While doing so, Dimension kept its development engine not only humming but fueled it up to advance its future offtake portfolio, Younes said.

Younes told NPM that the commitment is being bumped to USD 550m.

As the sponsor equity, Dimension uses a combination of third-party debt and tax equity on its projects. It uses local contractors and local labor in each market to construct its projects and uses third-party subscription management companies, as well as some of its own self-generated efforts. Its asset management is handled in-house. It has nearly 100 employees across offices in Atlanta, New York City, and Walnut Creek, California.

According to NPM data, Dimension is active in California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maine, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Delaware.

While the California market has been “murky and turbulent,” Younes said they have found ways to develop ground-mount community solar projects there.

“There are ways to do community solar there—it’s just not as frictionless as you would like it to be,” Younes said.

Dimension has developed projects under California's Disadvantaged Communities (DAC), the Community Solar Green Tariff (CSGT) program, and the Green Tariff Shared Renewables Enhanced Community Renewables Program (GTSR-ECR) program.

Its policy work in the state has been focused on making sure that California takes full advantage of the USD 250m Solar for All funds and ensuring the funds go as far as possible.

Last month, the developer proposed an 800 MW community solar program with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) which was met with a competing 100 MW proposal by utilities.

Dimension's proposal establishes a structure whereby the utility or Community Choice Association (CCA) has a wholesale power contract with a community solar plus storage project, while it retains some revenues from that contract in a balancing account to allocate to customers as a bill credit.

While meeting with the CPUC this month, Dimension outlined a PPA revenue structure of USD 0.14/kWh that would be needed in order for California's new community solar program to be viable. The revenue increases to USD 0.175/kWh to provide a 20% bill credit to low-income customers as required by the federal Solar for All funding opportunity. The current Renewable Market Adjusting Tariff (ReMAT) and Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act (PURPA) Standard Offer Contract (SOC) only provides roughly USD 0.07/kwh.

As demonstrated in California, Dimension likes to be the "tip of the spear," Younes said, by helping draft legislation and design programs that work with politics, businesses, and residents of particular states.

Dimension has also led policy work in Virginia, where they helped draft the original and revamped Shared Solar program and its tariffs. It has more than 30 MW of operating community solar projects in the state with another 34 MW currently under construction, according to Younes.

Dimension is also active in policy work in Ohio, Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin--all states where community solar legislation has been formally introduced and is making headway.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.

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