The $49.5 million sale will include four community solar projects that total 25.58 MW.
Four solar projects in upstate New York are to be acquired by Qcells from SolarBank. The four projects, known as Gainesville, Hardie, Rice Road and Hwy 28, total 25.58 MW.
SolarBank Corporation is an independent renewable and clean energy project developer and owner focusing on distributed and community solar projects in Canada and the U.S. The company reported it received positive interconnection results via a completed Coordinated Electric System Interconnect Review. Solar projects must receive interconnection approval to connect to New York’s utility grid. To receive interconnection approval, the system must meet certain electrical safety standards and be able to prove that the grid has the equipment capacity to handle its renewable energy load.
SolarBank will continue to build the projects for Qcells, a South Korean firm with manufacturing facilities in the U.S. SolarBank will be the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and it expects to retain an operations and maintenance contract for the four projects once construction is completed. According to SolarBank, the four projects’ sale and the EPC agreement are valued around $49.5 million.
Under the agreement, Qcells will pay the projects’ purchase price and construction costs. If Qcells is unable to obtain the necessary financing, SolarBank is obligated to reacquire the projects subject to retention of an initial payment.
Community solar
The projects will operate as community solar projects once completed and, according to SolarBank, are expected to be eligible for incentives under the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority NY-Sun Program.
Community solar benefits renters, homeowners and business owners who don’t own their own homes, don’t have a suitable roof orientation for solar or who can’t afford the upfront costs of solar.
With more than 1.9 GW of operational capacity, New York has the top community solar market in the country, more than twice than that of Minnesota (0.9 GW), the state with the second largest community market, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. As of June 2024, there was 7.87 GW of community solar in operation across the participating 44 states and localities in the U.S.
Much of the community solar developed in the state has received benefits from the state’s NY-Sun program, a state solar incentive program for distributed generation assets. Since being launched in 2011, NY-Sun has put forth more than $1.8 billion to advance solar buildout in the state.
A recent Wood Mackenzie report projects that a cumulative total of U.S. community solar installations could reach 14 GW by 2028, more than doubling the total in less than five years.
