Greenbacker Capital Management, through its Greenbacker Development Opportunities Fund I, a private equity fund that invests in sustainable infrastructure platforms across the US, has invested in Sunrock Distributed Generation (Sunrock DG), a financing and asset aggregation platform for commercial and industrial (C&I) solar and energy storage projects across the US.
Greenbacker Capital Management established the Greenbacker Development Opportunities Fund I in 2020 to invest in companies focused on sustainable infrastructure development.
The investment supports Sunrock DG’s capacity to provide financing for small and medium businesses transitioning to solar energy.
It also enables Sunrock DG to expand its middle-market commercial solar and storage projects pipeline.
According to the Annual Energy Outlook 2022 (AEO2022) by US Energy Information Administration, it plans approximately 70 GW of installed commercial distributed generation capacity by 2050.
“We believe distributed generation has an inherently long tail, with the best opportunities and highest yields in the smaller end of the market,” said Benjamin Baker, Managing Director at Greenbacker.
“The solar market has been ineffective at serving middle-market commercial customers for 20 years,” said Sunrock DG founder Claire Broido Johnson.
“Through our collaboration with Greenbacker and our deep network of developer partners, we’re looking forward to bringing more thoughtful financing structures to this underserved market segment,” he added.
In April 2022, Greenbacker Renewable Energy, an owner, and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, entered into a senior credit agreement of $76.3 million with joint lead arrangers Fifth Third Bank, National Association, and PNC Capital Markets. Morgan Stanley Renewables served as a tax equity investor. Fifth Third Bank also served as an administrative agent.
According to Mercom’s Q1 2022 solar funding and M&A report, global VC funding for the solar sector in Q1 2022 came to $1.2 billion in 26 deals, a 45% decrease compared to $2.2 billion raised in 19 deals in Q4 2021. Year-over-year funding was 19% higher compared to Q1 2021.
