US solar company Summit Ridge Energy has acquired a portfolio of community solar projects in the state of Virginia, with a total capacity of 100MW.
The portfolio consists of 19 projects currently under construction, and Summit Ridge Energy expects to commission the entire portfolio by the end of 2024. The company purchased the projects from seven firms – Apex Clean Energy, ESA Solar, ForeFront Power, New Leaf Energy, RWE Clean Energy and SolAmerica Energy – for a total investment of US$250 million.
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“This new portfolio is an example of our ability to execute in a challenging economic environment and demonstrates our commitment to our home state of Virginia,” said Summit Ridge Energy CEO Steve Raeder.
Summit Ridge Energy’s new portfolio also accounts for two-thirds of the capacity of projects funded under Virginia’s Shared Solar Program, an initiative implemented in 2020 to encourage the development of new solar projects in the state. Under the program, solar developers sell power produced at their facilities to utility Dominion Energy, which offers its customers credit towards their energy bills by using this power, allowing citizens who are unable to install solar panels on their rooftops an opportunity to use solar power.
However, the scheme has come under fire for the relative prices and value of the credit offered by Dominion Energy. In 2022, the Virginia Corporation Commission set the credit rate for those using solar power through the scheme at US$0.11765 per kilowatt hour, a figure lower than the price Dominion Energy charges for its on-peak and off-peak electricity through the winter months, which sit at $0.19731 per kilowatt hour and US$0.11913 per kilowatt hour respectively.
As a result, Dominion Energy customers are likely to make a loss by engaging in the project, dissuading consumers from purchasing electricity generated by solar power, and raising questions as to the long-term future of solar power in the state.
“We did not pass legislation to create a program that exists in name only,” wrote Virginia senators Emmett Hanger and Scott Surovell, and Virginia delegate Rip Sullivan, in a 2022 letter criticising the implementation of the initiative.
“A competitive shared solar program is a new and exciting frontier for Virginia, and we recommend taking serious consideration of the input provided by industry and advocates with regards to what has proven successful in other markets.”
The news follows Summit Ridge Energy’s expansion of a financing deal with Japanese financial group MUFG, which the company said it would use to fund 15 community solar projects in Virginia, although it did not specify if the MUFG funding would be used specifically to purchase these assets. Summit Ridge Energy’s work also follows continued optimism about the potential for the community solar sector in the US following the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act.
