COMMUNITY SOLAR ROUND-UP: Altus acquires projects, Castillo and NSE deliver EPC work, CCSA publishes report

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
A Castillo Engineering project site.
Castillo Engineering and NSE’s new projects will have 31.49MW of capacity. Image: Castillo Engineering.

A round-up of news from the US community solar sector this week. Altus Power has acquired a portfolio of projects in Maryland, Castillo Engineering and Northern Sun Energy (NSE) have been selected to provide EPC work in New York and the Coalition For Community Solar Access (CCSA) has published a report into the financial benefits of community solar this week.

Altus Power acquires ten projects from Prospect14

Distributed solar developer Altus Power has acquired ten community solar projects in the US state of Maryland from fellow developer Prospect14. Altus described the projects as in the “development stage”, but provided no information on when it expects to commission the projects, which have a combined capacity of 58.4MW.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The projects are part of Maryland’s Community Solar Program, an initiative to improve access to community solar in the state through policies such as removing the requirement to own one’s own property to access community solar projects.

While Maryland’s solar sector is not the largest in terms of sheer capacity, distributed solar makes up the majority of its operating capacity; figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) show that in 2024, three-fifths of the state’s solar generation came from “small-scale, customer-sited” PV projects. This week’s acquisition follows Maryland’s passage of the Renewable Energy Certainty Act, which seeks to streamline the permitting process for new solar PV and energy storage projects.

In other Altus-related news, TPG Rise Climate, the climate investing platform of asset manager TPG, has finalised plans to acquire Altus for US$2.2 billion. Altus announced the deal in February, and yesterday its stockholders voted to accept the offer, which will see Altus stockholders receive US$5 in cash for each share, and the company transition to be a privately-owned organisation.

Castillo and NSE to deliver New York EPC work

US developer Seaboard Solar has selected engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms Castillo Engineering and NSE to deliver EPC services for three solar projects in New York state.

The projects, which will be built across the towns of East Greenbush, Kinderhook and Wilton, will have a combined capacity of 31.49MW, and Castillo noted that they will provide “unique engineering challenges”, including the installation of solar modules across uneven terrain.

“These projects required innovative engineering solutions to balance technical constraints and cost-effectiveness, and our team worked closely with NSE to optimise designs without sacrificing efficiency,” said Christopher Castillo, CEO of Castillo Engineering.

While 2024 was a bumper year for the New York utility-scale sector – with around 400MW of new solar capacity added – community solar has long dominated the New York solar industry, which was the ninth-largest industry by operational capacity in the US as of the end of 2024. The state added close to 800MW of new community solar capacity in 2024, following three consecutive years of adding around 400MW each year.

Indeed, according to figures from CCSA, New York was one of three states to account for more than two-thirds of the new community solar capacity installed in 2024, alongside Maine and Illinois. Last year was a record year for community solar additions, with the US adding 1.7GW of new capacity, a 35% year-on-year increase.

CCSA report associates US$120 billion in economic benefits with community solar

A new report from CCSA has highlighted the potential economic benefits that can come from investments into the community solar space, finding that the addition of 1GW of new community solar capacity could create 18,650 jobs and generate US$2.8 billion in local economic impacts.

The report, ‘The Economic Impact of Community Solar’, finds that the US could unlock more than US$120 billion nationwide by greater investments into the community solar sector, arguing that the short development timelines of community solar – noting that “community solar projects are typically online in 12 to 18 months” – means the sector is best-placed to meet growing electricity demand across the US.

CCSA also suggests that these benefits will be felt in some of the largest solar markets in the US. Its report notes that greater investments in community solar could create 25,000 full-time jobs in the industry leading state of California, and deliver US$12 billion in “economic impact”.

“This is the energy policy equivalent of finding a US$100 bill on the sidewalk—if you’re a governor or a legislator and you walk past it, you’re doing your state a disservice,” said Jeff Cramer, CCSA CEO. “States are running out of time and options. Community solar is fast, cost-effective, and it works.”

PV Tech publisher Solar Media will be organising the fourth edition of Large Scale Solar USA in Dallas, Texas 29-30 April. After a record year for solar PV additions in the US, the event will dive into the ongoing uncertainties on tariffs, tax credits and trade policies as more domestic manufacturing becomes operational. Other challenges, such as the interconnection queues and permitting, will also be covered in Dallas. More information, including how to attend, can be read here.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.
16 June 2026
Napa, USA
PV Tech has been running PV ModuleTech Conferences since 2017. PV ModuleTech USA, on 16-17 June 2026, will be our fifth PV ModulelTech conference dedicated to the U.S. utility scale solar sector. The event will gather the key stakeholders from solar developers, solar asset owners and investors, PV manufacturing, policy-making and and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out the PV module supply channels to the U.S. out to 2027 and beyond.

Read Next

June 27, 2025
Renewables investment platform Nexwell Power has signed a round of power purchase agreements (PPAs) with “one of the largest” US tech companies for solar PV capacity to be built in Spain.
Premium
June 27, 2025
PV Talk: '2024 was a transformational year in terms of energy policy,' says Monika Paplaczyk ahead of this year's Clean Power 2030 Summits.
June 26, 2025
A round-up of news from the US solar sector this week, including Akuo, Meta and RWE.
June 26, 2025
A group of minority shareholders in Norwegian silicon firm REC Silicon has triggered an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the closure of the company’s US polysilicon production site.
June 26, 2025
Adapture Renewables and Meta have signed two EAPAs that will see the latter acquire power from a 360MW Texas solar portfolio.
June 25, 2025
First Solar has sold US$311.8 million in tax credits to “a leading financial institution” under the rules set out in the IRA.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico