Luminia has agreed to purchase New Hampshire Solar Garden, bringing the company’s founder Andrew Kellar onboard to help develop community solar assets.
Luminia executed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to acquire the assets, development resources and project pipeline of New Hampshire Solar Garden, including 15 MW of community solar that the companies jointly closed in 2022. Luminia will now control and manage the developer’s community solar portfolio totaling over 218 MW.
As part of the deal, Kellar joined Luminia, bringing along extensive community solar expertise and a proven track record of solar development in the Northeast. The acquisition follows Luminia’s long-standing partnership with the developer and builds on the company’s growing community solar portfolio.
“New Hampshire Solar Garden has been an incredible partner and influential leader in establishing successful community solar projects across the Northeast,” said David Field, CEO and cofounder of Luminia, a California-based solar financing firm founded in 2019. “As we continue to scale our community solar business, we are thrilled to welcome Andrew to our team to lead our internal origination strategy, directly and in partnership with co-development partners and strategic offtakers in key markets.”
New Hampshire Solar Garden serves Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. The company was the first to offer community solar offtake solutions in New Hampshire at a large scale, impacting many different communities.
Kellar was instrumental in convincing municipalities to serve as offtake backstops for community solar assets, spearheading financing and fostering innovation in the region. In addition to New Hampshire Solar Garden’s Northeast pipeline, Kellar is also bringing more than 140 MW of development projects in Puerto Rico. He looks forward to leveraging Luminia’s core competencies for expanding community solar portfolios across the United States.
“Having been part of the Northeast community solar development since its inception more than a decade ago, I am excited to share my perspective and build credibility with Luminia’s developer partners,” said Kellar, now VP of development for Luminia. “Having been on the developer side, I know first-hand how Luminia allowed me to spend the majority of my day doing what I love, with the platform and people-support to tackle the financial and legal aspects of deals that occupied so much of my former capacity.”
Luminia views community solar as a growing market segment within the solar industry, with support from federal policies including the Biden administration and the Department of Energy’s community solar pilot programs and the Inflation Reduction Act’s 10-year, 30% ITC extension. The acquisition of New Hampshire Solar Garden will help support this growing demand for new community solar projects by providing unique financing and technology solutions for the deployment of community solar projects at scale.
— Solar Builder magazine
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.