EXCELSIOR, Minn.: Excelsior Energy Capital (“Excelsior”), a leading independent North American renewable energy investor, announced today that its North American Renewable Energy Fund (the “Fund”) has agreed to partner with Nokomis Partners (“Nokomis”) on the construction and operation of a 16.5 MW solar portfolio. Excelsior will be the long-term owner of the portfolio. In addition, Excelsior and Nokomis are already working on their next portfolio, seeking to leverage this experience to streamline future development.
The ground-mount solar projects are located throughout Minnesota and sell power under the Minnesota Solar Community Garden program to municipal and commercial customers. Excelsior is raising the tax equity, construction and permanent debt financing for the projects. Construction is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2019.
Anne Marie DeMent, a Partner at Excelsior, commented: “Excelsior is pleased to partner with the Nokomis team on this exciting transaction. A key part of our strategy is to partner with experienced local developers, such as Nokomis, to execute repeat investments in projects earlier in their lifecycle, where Excelsior can create value by bringing its project finance structuring capabilities to bear. This complements our primary strategy of investing in high-quality operating assets.”
“We’re excited to partner with the team at Excelsior to construct this portfolio of community solar projects and bring the benefits of local energy to the Minnesota communities where we live and work,” shared Brendan Dillon, Partner with Nokomis. “By leveraging Minnesota’s Value of Solar rate structure, no ratepayer subsidies will be used in the funding of these projects, a big step forward for distributed solar. We look forward to continuing to work with Excelsior to deliver benefits to our customers on these and future projects.”
About Excelsior Energy Capital
Excelsior Energy Capital is a pure-play renewable energy infrastructure fund focused on long-term investments in wind and solar power plants in North America. The Excelsior management team alone brings over 70 years of combined experience and a comprehensive set of strategic, financial, legal and operational expertise; making Excelsior Energy Capital a valuable partner for developers and operators, and a trusted manager for investors. For more information, visit http://www.excelsiorcapital.com or contact media@excelsiorcapital.com
About Nokomis
Nokomis Partners is a Minneapolis-based energy developer with a mission to accelerate local energy adoption through equitable partnerships. We specialize in understanding the full development process from origination, to technology, to long-term operation. Through a combination of development and consulting services we use distributed energy to deliver economic and social benefits to local communities.
