Lodestar and PowerMarket Executives Discuss Recent Partnership and Expansion Plans
In an interview with NPM, Lodestar Energy and PowerMarket executives discussed their recent partnership with the City of Kingston, New York, to develop and provide customer acquisition services for Moores Hill Community Solar--a project that is representative of several upcoming projects in the Empire State.
Moores Hill Community Solar is a 2.7 MW community solar facility being developed by Lodestar in New Windsor. The Connecticut-based developer began working on the project in December 2021. Construction is slated to begin in spring 2024.
The project is part of Kingston Community Energy, the city’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) initiative. PowerMarket will host the Community Solar website dedicated to Kingston residents and will work alongside Mid-Hudson Energy Transition (MHET), a Kingston-based non-profit organization, who will oversee community outreach and enrollment.
The City of Kingston will serve as the anchor client. In New York, no more than 40 percent of the total capacity of a community solar project may be subscribed by one subscriber.
“We’ve done this a few times. We really like the combination of the town as the anchor and the residents of the town as the mass market or offtake,” said Jaime Smith, Lodestar’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, in an interview with NPM.
“It’s a nice synergy because the residents of the community are getting sort of the same deal as the town is getting, so it gives it some more legitimacy,” Smith said.
Smith said the model is being replicated in Bedford, Lewisboro, and Yorktown.
“We believe development is a local game,” Smith said. “You have to have feet on the ground in those markets—particularly if you’re going to do what we do which is knock on the farmers door and start at that level.”
Lodestar is an “end-to-end” developer whose activity spans from project conception, financing, construction, and long-term owning and operating assets. According to their website, Lodestar has financed 300m across 40 projects comprised of 130 MW installed.
They handle subscription services for some of their larger anchor clients such as businesses, municipalities, schools, and low-income housing authorities. For residential billing, they typically partner with customer acquisition providers as demonstrated with the Moores Hill project.
As Independent Power Producers (IPP), they don’t take outside funding, Smith said.
“We own it. We don’t answer to anyone,” Smith said. “It’s a real nice position but it means we are at the size that we are based on that strategy.”
Smith said the company does however have partnerships with tax equity groups and local banks to finance projects.
“It’s a very capital-intensive game right now and you can do what we’re doing which is to use your own money and be very deliberate about how you grow, or you can be a developer who takes other people’s money and makes lots more big bets—we’ve not been that developer.”
“We’ve been a little more prudent and a little bit more thoughtful making sure that each project is successful,” Smith continued. “We’re not making ten bets and hoping that two projects go through. That’s not our business model. It’s very easy to get over extended in this business.”
Over the last decade, Lodestar has focused their attention on three markets: Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.
Their projects are typically ground-mount greenfield developments that range in size from 1 MW to 7.5 MW. Smith, a beekeeper hobbyist, said their projects also typically include pollinator habitats or sheep grazing.
Lodestar is also a brownfield developer, having developed several brownfield projects on landfills and gravel pits--two of which are currently under development in Connecticut and are expected to take part in the state’s Shared Clean Energy Facilities (SCEF) program. Lodestar has about 8-10 projects in the state, including a project in North Canaan and Winchester that recently went live, and projects in Enfield and Torrington that are currently under development.
Their projects also take part in New York’s Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) program and Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program, which they have been utilizing as of late for their solar plus energy storage component, Smith said.
Smith said they’re looking to expand in the upcoming year and have set their eyes on the MISO region. He declined to specify which states exactly but highlighted favorable markets in the Midwest such as Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
“We’re definitely doing regulatory tracking work to watch when there are changes in the market,” Smith said.
As for new technologies, Smith said they are evaluating floating solar, new battery technology and alternatives to lithium ion, and made in America trends, to see where they can buy products in the United States to help with their supply chain.
PowerMarket
PowerMarket works with 50 different community solar developers across 10 states, said Brad Tito, PowerMarket’s Director of Community Energy, in a separate interview with NPM.
Their partners include Ameresco, Green Street Power Partners, Altus Power America, Duke Energy, Convergent Energy and Power, Navisun, CleanCapital, SunRaise Investments, Pine Gate Renewables, EDP Renewables North America, and Generate Capital.
Combined, Tito estimated the partnerships account for about 300 community solar projects, or 525 MW with about 70,000 subscribers.
About 30,000 of those subscribers can be found in New York, which Tito highlighted as one of the best states for subscribing community solar projects due to net-crediting which consolidates community solar subscription fees and credits through their utility bill as opposed to receiving two separate bills.
“We’re a major player,” Tito said of New York. “We get a lot of developers approaching us to do the customer acquisition and management. We have a solid track record.”
New York also offers grants to municipalities for successful community solar campaigns, which is a real motivator to local governments to get involved, Tito said. In other states, they can initiate a community solar campaign as a green initiative, but they’re not likely going to get grant funding or technical assistance like what is offered in New York, he added.
“We find ways to make it work in every state that we work in and every state has a different approach to community solar—different rules—that’s why you really need a company like PowerMarket that has the regulatory knowhow and understanding of the differences of the community solar programs of different states,” Tito said.
A key aspect that differentiates PowerMarket from other customer acquisition companies in the space is their collaborations with municipalities and community non-profits on community energy programs and campaigns, according to Tito. They help with planning of campaigns or programs, developing marketing materials, customers support services and call centers, and creation of user-friendly landing web pages.
Looking ahead, Tito said he is anticipating accelerated growth in the industry, pointing out the Nation Community Solar Partnership, a federal initiative targeting 5 million households and USD 1b in energy savings by 2025.
“We’re trying to ride that wave and be a part of that growth,” Tito said. “There are very few other industries that are growing as fast as community solar and given our position as a premier provider to the community solar industry, we expect to see significant growth in the number of projects we take on and increasing the numbers of subscribers by tens of thousands over the coming years.”
Moores Hill Community Solar is a 2.7 MW community solar facility being developed by Lodestar in New Windsor. The Connecticut-based developer began working on the project in December 2021. Construction is slated to begin in spring 2024.
The project is part of Kingston Community Energy, the city’s Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) initiative. PowerMarket will host the Community Solar website dedicated to Kingston residents and will work alongside Mid-Hudson Energy Transition (MHET), a Kingston-based non-profit organization, who will oversee community outreach and enrollment.
The City of Kingston will serve as the anchor client. In New York, no more than 40 percent of the total capacity of a community solar project may be subscribed by one subscriber.
“We’ve done this a few times. We really like the combination of the town as the anchor and the residents of the town as the mass market or offtake,” said Jaime Smith, Lodestar’s Co-Founder and Managing Director, in an interview with NPM.
“It’s a nice synergy because the residents of the community are getting sort of the same deal as the town is getting, so it gives it some more legitimacy,” Smith said.
Smith said the model is being replicated in Bedford, Lewisboro, and Yorktown.
“We believe development is a local game,” Smith said. “You have to have feet on the ground in those markets—particularly if you’re going to do what we do which is knock on the farmers door and start at that level.”
Lodestar is an “end-to-end” developer whose activity spans from project conception, financing, construction, and long-term owning and operating assets. According to their website, Lodestar has financed 300m across 40 projects comprised of 130 MW installed.
They handle subscription services for some of their larger anchor clients such as businesses, municipalities, schools, and low-income housing authorities. For residential billing, they typically partner with customer acquisition providers as demonstrated with the Moores Hill project.
As Independent Power Producers (IPP), they don’t take outside funding, Smith said.
“We own it. We don’t answer to anyone,” Smith said. “It’s a real nice position but it means we are at the size that we are based on that strategy.”
Smith said the company does however have partnerships with tax equity groups and local banks to finance projects.
“It’s a very capital-intensive game right now and you can do what we’re doing which is to use your own money and be very deliberate about how you grow, or you can be a developer who takes other people’s money and makes lots more big bets—we’ve not been that developer.”
“We’ve been a little more prudent and a little bit more thoughtful making sure that each project is successful,” Smith continued. “We’re not making ten bets and hoping that two projects go through. That’s not our business model. It’s very easy to get over extended in this business.”
Over the last decade, Lodestar has focused their attention on three markets: Massachusetts, New York, and Connecticut.
Their projects are typically ground-mount greenfield developments that range in size from 1 MW to 7.5 MW. Smith, a beekeeper hobbyist, said their projects also typically include pollinator habitats or sheep grazing.
Lodestar is also a brownfield developer, having developed several brownfield projects on landfills and gravel pits--two of which are currently under development in Connecticut and are expected to take part in the state’s Shared Clean Energy Facilities (SCEF) program. Lodestar has about 8-10 projects in the state, including a project in North Canaan and Winchester that recently went live, and projects in Enfield and Torrington that are currently under development.
Their projects also take part in New York’s Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) program and Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) program, which they have been utilizing as of late for their solar plus energy storage component, Smith said.
Smith said they’re looking to expand in the upcoming year and have set their eyes on the MISO region. He declined to specify which states exactly but highlighted favorable markets in the Midwest such as Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
“We’re definitely doing regulatory tracking work to watch when there are changes in the market,” Smith said.
As for new technologies, Smith said they are evaluating floating solar, new battery technology and alternatives to lithium ion, and made in America trends, to see where they can buy products in the United States to help with their supply chain.
PowerMarket
PowerMarket works with 50 different community solar developers across 10 states, said Brad Tito, PowerMarket’s Director of Community Energy, in a separate interview with NPM.
Their partners include Ameresco, Green Street Power Partners, Altus Power America, Duke Energy, Convergent Energy and Power, Navisun, CleanCapital, SunRaise Investments, Pine Gate Renewables, EDP Renewables North America, and Generate Capital.
Combined, Tito estimated the partnerships account for about 300 community solar projects, or 525 MW with about 70,000 subscribers.
About 30,000 of those subscribers can be found in New York, which Tito highlighted as one of the best states for subscribing community solar projects due to net-crediting which consolidates community solar subscription fees and credits through their utility bill as opposed to receiving two separate bills.
“We’re a major player,” Tito said of New York. “We get a lot of developers approaching us to do the customer acquisition and management. We have a solid track record.”
New York also offers grants to municipalities for successful community solar campaigns, which is a real motivator to local governments to get involved, Tito said. In other states, they can initiate a community solar campaign as a green initiative, but they’re not likely going to get grant funding or technical assistance like what is offered in New York, he added.
“We find ways to make it work in every state that we work in and every state has a different approach to community solar—different rules—that’s why you really need a company like PowerMarket that has the regulatory knowhow and understanding of the differences of the community solar programs of different states,” Tito said.
A key aspect that differentiates PowerMarket from other customer acquisition companies in the space is their collaborations with municipalities and community non-profits on community energy programs and campaigns, according to Tito. They help with planning of campaigns or programs, developing marketing materials, customers support services and call centers, and creation of user-friendly landing web pages.
Looking ahead, Tito said he is anticipating accelerated growth in the industry, pointing out the Nation Community Solar Partnership, a federal initiative targeting 5 million households and USD 1b in energy savings by 2025.
“We’re trying to ride that wave and be a part of that growth,” Tito said. “There are very few other industries that are growing as fast as community solar and given our position as a premier provider to the community solar industry, we expect to see significant growth in the number of projects we take on and increasing the numbers of subscribers by tens of thousands over the coming years.”
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