Nautilus Solar Energy, LLC and TurningPoint Energy announce their collaboration on six community solar projects in Delaware totaling 28.7 MWdc of solar capacity. The projects, located in Kent, New Castle, and Sussex Counties, are in the late stages of development and are expected to start construction during 2024. The acquisition of the portfolio marks Nautilus's entry into the Delaware market and is the third transaction between Nautilus and TPE, demonstrating the strong partnership between the two organizations.
The six projects were developed by TPE as part of Delaware's community solar program. Originally signed into law in September 2021, the program accelerates the adoption of community solar projects by removing existing barriers to participation and promulgating a requirement that reserves 15% of each project's capacity for low-income customers. The law was years in the making with many stakeholders through a working group organized by State Senator Stephanie Hansen, Chair of the Senate Energy, Environment and Transportation Committee.
"The level of investment that Nautilus Solar Energy and TurningPoint Energy are making here in Delaware is exactly what I had hoped for when I first proposed Senate Bill 2 last year," said Senator Hansen. "Thanks to the projects announced today, hundreds of our neighbors who otherwise would have been excluded from the solar revolution will soon be able to power their homes and businesses with clean, reliable, and less expensive electricity than what's available from fossil-fuel burning power plants. Getting here was truly a team effort and I want to thank both companies as well as the many Delaware energy stakeholders who provided input into the legislation that made this possible."
Nautilus is the long-term owner of the projects and is responsible for overseeing construction, maintaining its long-term performance, and acquiring and managing customer subscriptions. Delmarva Power and Light (DPL) customers are eligible to join one of the projects through Nautilus with no upfront cost.
"This acquisition marks our exciting entry into the Delaware market, a milestone made even more meaningful by our partnership with TPE. This initiative underlines Nautilus's commitment to our partners and reaffirms our aim to be a leading community solar company with projects located across the country," said Eric Paul, Vice President of Partner Development at Nautilus.
"This is TurningPoint Energy's first demonstration of coming through on our overall commitment to invest over $100MM in the Delaware community solar market. We're thankful to continue to work in strategic partnership with Nautilus to make good on the first portion of this commitment," said Salar Naini, Executive Vice President of TurningPoint Energy. "We look forward to completing additional community solar project portfolios in Delaware, which we continue to develop and finance in parallel."
The six projects will create construction and ongoing operational jobs along with collaboration and investment into local Delaware businesses on legal, permitting, engineering, construction, and related activities to support these developments.
Additionally, TPE makes a charitable community investment commitment in each of its community solar project communities. For these six projects, TPE has designated a total of $120,000 in planned donations to local organizations and Nautilus has committed to match this commitment to double the total community investment in Delaware to $240,000.
Once completed, the community solar projects will provide clean energy to more than 5,000 residential and small commercial subscribers within DPL's utility territory. Over their lifetime, the projects are expected to generate approximately 50 million kWh annually, contributing to Delaware's stated goals of providing economic growth, workforce opportunities, and 40 percent renewable energy by 2035.
