Today, Summit Ridge Energy (SRE) announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Osaka Gas USA Corporation (OGUSA), a subsidiary of Osaka Gas Co., Ltd., to construct, own and operate over 120 MW of community solar projects throughout the state of Maine.
Once operational, the portfolio of 20+ distributed solar farms will generate enough clean energy to provide approximately 11,000 residential and commercial customers with monthly utility savings, said SRE. Land has been secured for all of the projects and customers located in Versant and Central Maine Power (CMP) territories will be able to benefit from solar via bill credits from their utilities under Maine’s Net Energy Billing (NEB) program.
Community solar farms are unique in that they enable households, businesses and municipalities who may be unable to put solar at their locations (no roof space, renters, too much shade, etc) to take advantage of the clean energy that solar provides.
Versant and CMP will be responsible for providing the bill credits on monthly statements for customers who have signed up to participate in the program.
CohnReznick Capital acted as the exclusive financial advisor on the transaction.
This announcement comes just two years after the launch of SRE’s initial joint venture, Summit Ridge Capital Holdings, which has financed over 150 MW of solar capacity across Illinois and Maryland.
