Standard Solar executive discusses Illinois portfolio acquisition with New Leaf
Standard Solar is eager to acquire commercial and community solar projects and repeat transactions such as their recent acquisition of an 84 MW community solar portfolio in Illinois from New Leaf Energy, said Harry Benson, Director of Business Development, in an interview with NPM.
The portfolio consisted of 14 projects bringing the two's collaboration to 20 projects total across three states.
“We’ve got a voracious appetite and we’re not turning down any projects,” said Benson. “We’re very interested in growing our development partner list and we’re trying to buy as many projects as we can right now.”
The commercial, community solar, and solar plus storage developer owns and operates about 350 MW of projects across 20 states including Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New Mexico.
They generally look to take control of projects at Notice to Proceed (NTP) and ideally ones that support a community or leverage the benefits of agrivoltaics--but there is no one size fits all.
Standard Solar was a small regional developer before they were acquired in 2017 by Energir who reshaped the company from an Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) company to one that focused on project acquisition. While they continue to engineer and perform the procurement, they have shifted to a model where they contract for project construction, according to Benson.
The developer also aims to own the assets for their 25-35-year lifespan, which are operated and maintained (O&M) by their subset Vigilant Energy Management. In 2022, the company was acquired again by Brookfield Renewable to expand their DG footprint.
“It’s going very well,” Benson said of working under Brookfield over the last year. “It doesn’t hurt that it’s a great market out there right now. You’ve got new states popping all over the place.”
Standard Solar offers co-development programs to support undercapitalized developers financially and in-house resources to advance projects and in some cases will pay interconnection and/or permitting fees. Benson said Standard Solar has developed a number of relationships this way over the years and the relationships are now bearing the fruit of that labor.
“Having someone there to help them with that process—it supports them and gives them confidence to go forward in this risky solar world,” Benson said.
Standard Solar is currently pursuing projects all over the country and sent a clear message for developers:
“If you’ve got a project that’s going to reach NTP we’re interested in purchasing it,” Benson said. “Just give us an opportunity to quote you some preliminary pricing and then you’ll see the true value of it all."
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.
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