Rooftop solar on a downtown Boulder parking structure.
Image: Namaste Solar
The City of Boulder, Colorado, is now home to 2.1 MW of rooftop and ground-installed solar, marking the completion of its Generation Solar project.
Solar was installed on 11 city-owned sites, including parking garages, fire stations, and land adjacent to the city’s Water Resource Recovery Center.
Under agreements with the city, Madison Energy Investments and Unico Solar leased nearly 363,000 square feet of rooftop and ground area for the projects, which were installed by Namaste Solar. The entire portfolio is expected to generate more than 80 million kWh over 20 years and supports Boulder’s goals to operate on 100% renewable energy by 2030.
The city buys power produced by the arrays through separate purchase agreements. The project is expected to generate around $1.5 million in cumulative savings over 30 years. The agreements boost the city’s total solar portfolio to 6.45 MW.
Mosaic loan program
Solar financing platform Mosaic announced a new $1.5 billion, multi-year loan purchase program with Congressional Bank. The program focuses on loans for solar energy systems, as well as battery storage. This partnership follows Mosaic’s recent announcement of closing a $331 million securitization of residential solar loans.
Fine levied for environmental violations
CS Energy and Eversource Energy have agreed to pay up to $310,000 in state fines in New Jersey for allegedly violating state environmental laws, leading to pollution in a stream and other protected areas.
The settlement with the state attorney general’s office alleges that, while building an 11.7-acre solar array in Southampton, east of Philadelphia, in 2018 and 2019, Eversource and CS Energy violated regulations under the Wetlands Protection Act and Clean Waters Act. Eversource owns the array and CS Energy carried out the construction.
Construction caused sediment-laden stormwater to flow off the array site and into tributaries that feed into a stream. By the end of 2018, the sediment discharges were alleged to have clogged one of the streams.
The complaint also alleges that CS Energy did not comply with an enforcement order issued from the Southampton Conservation Commission intended to control erosion and sedimentation.
SunPower deleverages its balance sheet
SunPower said it has repaid its $30 million, 8.5% fixed interest loan with the California Enterprise Development Authority. The company said it plans to retire the balance of its outstanding 2021 convertible bond issue during the second quarter. The early repayment is part of SunPower’s plan to deleverages its balance sheet. The company said it is making “significant progress” on a number of financing-related initiatives, including efforts to shift its residential sales model to more systems sales. The company said it expects its effective cost of capital for residential leases and loans to now be below 6%.
