Soltage Receives New Investment from Tenaska
Tenaska and Soltage, LLC, a full-service renewable energy company developing and operating solar power plants across the United States, has announced a Tenaska affiliate's second multimillion-dollar commitment to support Soltage's corporate equity growth and ongoing investment in new distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) generation projects.
Under the agreement, Tenaska assumes a controlling interest in Soltage, with potential to invest in new project portfolios going forward. This investment will facilitate Soltage's growth trajectory throughout the next few years, with an expectation to deploy more than $250 million for roughly 125 megawatts (MW) of solar projects throughout 2015 and 2016.
"This funding is both a transformative achievement for Soltage and further evidence solar power is a smart investment for forward-looking utilities and customers, alike," said Jesse Grossman, Soltage co-founder and CEO. "We continue to be thrilled to have such an established and highly respected investor as Tenaska working with us as we help to realize our nation's renewable energy capacity."
"The past 18 months have shown the strength of Soltage's business plan," said David Kirkwood, Tenaska vice president and treasurer. "This investment and potential follow-on investments will allow Soltage to increase its development velocity in the near term."
Soltage develops, finances, installs, owns and operates solar electric generating stations, providing electricity to commercial, industrial, educational, utility and municipal customers under long-term contracts. Soltage successfully installed 60 MW of new solar capacity in 2014, part of an overall development portfolio of nearly 80 MW since Tenaska's initial investment in 2008.
Tenaska is consistently ranked by Forbes magazine as one of America's largest privately held companies, with approximately 11,000 MW of power generating assets under management, including 280 MW of utility-scale PV projects operating or under construction.
Solar PV is one of America's fastest growing sources of new generation, led primarily by utility-scale power plants. In 2014, utility-scale solar projects attracted $3.2 billion in asset finance, and 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of new utility-scale solar PV capacity went on line across the country, bringing total installed U.S. capacity to just under 10 GW, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
