Greenbacker Development Opportunities Fund I, LP ("Greenbacker"), which provides flexible capital and best-in-class technical guidance for growth-stage clean energy companies, announced today (June 2) that it has made an investment 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 country.
The partnership with Greenbacker will increase Sunrock DG's capacity to provide financing for small and medium businesses (SMBs) transitioning to solar energy. It will also enable Sunrock DG to expand its pipeline of middle-market commercial solar and storage projects. Historically, meeting the clean energy needs of SMBs has been prohibitively expensive to address.
Sunrock DG develops smaller-scale commercial solar projects that allow businesses, municipalities, and non-profits to access the financial and environmental benefits of solar power. Given challenges in achieving economies of scale, many companies have not been able to offer attractive third-party financing products to middle-market owners. Sunrock DG's proprietary underwriting criteria and technology, novel financing sources, and network of over 100 developer partners across the country allow it to offer this market segment both superior financing and affordable, straightforward products.
The US Energy Information Administration projects approximately 70 gigawatts of installed commercial distributed generation capacity by 2050.1 With Greenbacker's investment, Sunrock DG is better positioned to expand in the space.
"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. "We're thrilled to partner with Sunrock DG to expand our presence in C&I solar and enable Sunrock DG to accelerate its growth and meet the immense demand for low-cost clean energy solutions, particularly in light of rising power prices."
Sunrock DG was founded by an experienced team of solar development and financing professionals, including Claire Broido Johnson, who formerly co-founded SunEdison, as well as Catherine Lee and Anson Shao. The team brings a combined four decades of successful execution experience in the key areas of deal origination, underwriting, and project aggregation.
"The solar market has been ineffective at serving middle-market commercial customers for the last 20 years," said 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 segment of the market."
Greenbacker Capital Management established the Greenbacker Development Opportunities Fund I, LP in 2020 to invest in companies focused on sustainable infrastructure development.
About Greenbacker
Greenbacker Development Opportunities Fund I, LP is a middle-market private equity fund that invests in growing sustainable infrastructure platforms serving high-value markets across the US. The fund is managed by Greenbacker Capital Management, LLC. For more information, please visit www.greenbackercapital.com.
About Sunrock Distributed Generation
Sunrock Distributed Generation is a commercial solar and storage financing and asset aggregation platform. Sunrock DG offers financing to small and medium businesses across the country through partnerships with more than 100 developer partners. For partnership, recruiting and media inquiries, please visit www.sunrockdg.com or contact info@sunrockdg.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. Although Greenbacker believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. Greenbacker undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained herein to conform to actual results or changes in its expectations.
Greenbacker media contact
Chris Larson
Senior Writer & Media Communications
847.313.9035
c.larson@greenbackercapital.com
1 Annual Energy Outlook 2022 (AEO2022), U.S. Energy Information Administration.
