North American Infrastructure Partners (NAIP), a private investment company specializing in high-quality infrastructure assets, has announced a strategic investment in Clean Energy Collective (CEC), the nation’s leading developer of community solar solutions. The investment represents NAIP’s first acquisition within the rapidly growing community solar industry and results in NAIP’s majority ownership of CEC moving forward. NAIP’s support will facilitate the more than doubling of CEC’s project development pace including the delivery of more than 260 MW of solar development over the next 24 months. NAIP brings significant capital and ongoing financial support to CEC, its development partners and business associates.
CEC plans to accelerate the organization’s growth across new and existing markets, with project development planned across multiple markets including Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut and Colorado. That development will result in the acquisition and management of thousands of new customers, bringing CEC’s total customers under management to over 11,000 commercial and residential subscribers.
“NAIP actively seeks strategic investments across North America’s infrastructure spectrum where we can help companies unlock value and accelerate growth. With CEC’s track record of innovation and its proprietary software platform, we see an excellent fit with the NAIP investment strategy and are eager to assist CEC in realizing their potential as a leading renewable energy player,” said Bruno Darre, NAIP-CEC partner and CEC board chairman. CEC has built or has in development more than 400 MW of community solar projects, across 16 states. “With CEC’s industry leadership and NAIP’s management track record of over 100 successful transactions valued in excess of $2 billion, we believe the combined expertise of our teams bring an unmatched competitive advantage to the community solar market,” further noted Steve Roitman, NAIP co-founder and CEC board member.
NAIP’s investment will provide CEC access to ongoing project development resources and operational expertise, benefiting CEC’s strategic growth plans by removing project financing complexities that are inherent across the community solar industry. “Reliable access to capital allows CEC to fully and quickly realize potential growth,” commented Paul Spencer, CEO and founder of CEC. “With the dynamic nature of the community solar industry, NAIP’s investment brings efficient access to financing, which translates into delivering on our strategy much faster. We could not be more pleased with NAIP’s support as we position to double-down on our development efforts.”
News item from Clean Energy Collective
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