SolRiver Capital LLC, a solar investment fund that owns distributed-generation and utility-scale projects, announced today it closed an equity commitment from Rockland Capital, an energy-focused infrastructure investment fund, to acquire up to $200 million of solar projects.
The SolRiver/Rockland platform will acquire, own and operate distributed (DG), utility-scale, and commercial (C&I) solar projects. They focus on projects from 2 MW – 50 MW across the US. The partnership acquires projects at any phase of development, from pre-NTP through mechanical completion.
“SolRiver’s process is built around closing and funding projects quickly,” said Nick Gazzolo, Head of Business Development at SolRiver. “We look at 2 GW of projects every year. That volume requires a streamlined process to underwrite, close, and fund deals. Our partnership with Rockland has enabled us to continue doing that at a larger scale.”
“Partnering with Rockland allows SolRiver to capture a larger share of an increasingly complex solar market,” explained Brandon Conard, Managing Partner of SolRiver. “Solar projects now include new technologies like energy storage, new revenue strategies like hedges and merchant structures, and new policies like community solar. Rockland brings a savvy team, familiar with those complexities from a range of large energy investments, to assist SolRiver in evaluating and structuring modern solar projects for success.”
Rockland’s Managing Partner, Scott Harlan, explained, “As Rockland expanded our investments in the renewable energy sector, we sought an experienced partner with an established platform. SolRiver is an excellent fit for Rockland based on SolRiver’s straightforward yet rigorous process for acquiring high-quality solar projects. The Rockland team looks forward to assisting SolRiver scale up its acquisition platform with this investment.”
The platform is already acquiring solar projects. Recently it closed on the first round of acquisitions, totaling 25MW across seven projects in four states. It is expected to acquire over 150MW of projects in the next twelve months. “Our goal is to build long-term relationships with the developers and installers we work with,” Gazzolo added. “That begins with a competitive offer, and continues by working collaboratively with our partners. The repeat business we’ve seen confirms that our development partners trust us to get the job done at a good price.”
