SolRiver Capital, a national solar investment fund, has acquired a portfolio of utility-scale solar PV projects across North Carolina from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP).
The portfolio is eight projects totaling 53 MW. Each project is expected to initially operate under a power purchase agreement with the local utility. Once completed, the projects will produce over 91 million kWh of electricity annually.
Last year, Duke Energy and third-party solar developers, as well as industry organizations, reached multiple agreements to accelerate and reduce costs of interconnection for utility-scale solar facilities across North and South Carolina. These agreements include the facilitation of additional solar interconnections via a defined process and timeline, along with reforming the interconnection queue process by transitioning to a cluster study model. This updated process is instrumental for SolRiver to bring high-quality solar projects to this region.
“North Carolina continues to be a strong market for SolRiver,” says Riley Sullivan, vice president of acquisitions at SolRiver Capital. “What really secured this deal is our know-how on successfully navigating development and construction, informed by the past several years of building these types of systems in the Carolinas.”
In addition, this announcement comes on the heels of North Carolina’s recently passed HB 951, Energy Solutions for North Carolina, which establishes goals for the state’s electricity sector to reduce carbon emissions by 70% by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2050. SolRiver’s investment includes a series of PURPA solar projects to provide power as part of North Carolina’s increasing renewable energy generation mix.
SolRiver’s investment in the portfolio is expected to be in excess of $90 million.
