Sol-REIT is funding a portfolio of projects that provides three school districts in New Jersey communities with renewable energy at a savings of up to 72 percent compared to the state’s average energy costs.
Sol-REIT’s $9 million refinance loan to DIASASP Holdings, the developer of solar systems at Delsea Regional, Middletown Township and Plainfield school districts in New Jersey, will support continued renewable low-cost power generation for the districts under their PPAs.
“It is critical that the benefits of clean, renewable solar energy are accessible to everyone,” said Tom Gleckner, project manager for DIASASP Holdings. “DIASASP is excited to provide significant power savings to these school districts, which also will benefit their entire communities and fund student needs in the future.”
The projects generate an accumulation of 7.4 MW of solar power from a total of 21,467 solar panels covering 25 different installations. Nearly 75 percent of the systems are roof-mounted, except for ground-mounted systems in the Delsea School District.
“This is another example of what Sol-REIT can do for the municipality, utility, school and hospital sectors,” said Mark Settles, CEO of Sol-REIT. “We are primed to handle a variety of projects focused on clean, renewable energy that provide developers working capital and cash flow to get these projects to COD and beyond. We are active with a successful REIT in the marketplace and we’re deploying capital.”
In comparison to New Jersey’s average statewide rate of 13.63 kWh, school districts will be able to reduce their energy costs to as low as 3.83 cents per kWh through the projects.
The project will potentially generate enough clean electricity to power more than 875 homes a year, based on the average U.S. home use of 11 MW per year, while eliminating more than 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. The environmental savings are equivalent to taking 882 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driving more than 10 million miles off the road for a year or planting nearly 70,000 trees over a 10-year period.
“The savings of our installations is democratizing access to clean, renewable energy for municipalities, utilities, schools and hospitals by making the benefits of solar available to everyone,” said Settles.
Tags: municipal, schools
