- Community solar project in Richmond, N.Y. participates in NY-Sun program, SolarBank secures $2.5 million in incentives for the project.
- Project completed by SolarBank through a development and EPC agreement with a subsidiary of Gosh Enterprises, Inc.
- The system will produce approximately 8.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity in its first year of operation, equivalent to reducing more than 5,811 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
Toronto, Ontario, March 16, 2023 — SolarBank Corporation (CSE: SUNN) (“SolarBank” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce achievement of commercial operation and financial closing on a 7-megawatt (“MW”) community solar power project in Richmond, New York. The project has been sold to a subsidiary of Columbus, Ohio-based Gosh Enterprises, Inc., the parent of Charleys Cheesesteaks, Bibibop Asian Grill, Lenny’s Grill and Subs, and non-profit Charley’s Kids.
SolarBank originated the site south of Rochester, New York and took the project through full permitting and development before selling to Gosh Enterprises, subsequently developing the turnkey project to commercial operation via an engineering, procurement, and construction (“EPC”) agreement. The solar power project passed its final New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (“NYSERDA”) NY-Sun Program inspection and has been placed in commercial operation. SolarBank secured more than $2.5 million in NY-Sun incentives for the solar system.
The community solar project, which enrolls local subscribers for the power output, is nearly fully subscribed. The system will produce approximately 8.2 million kilowatt hours of green electricity in its first year of operation.
“Between this project in Richmond, N.Y. and another in Portland, N.Y. that we recently announced as completed and sold to Gosh Enterprises, nearly 12.5 million kilowatt hours of new, clean energy will be powering homes and business across the state,” said Dr. Richard Lu, Chief Executive Officer at SolarBank. “At first blush, one may not see much in common between solar panels and cheesesteaks, but the gap closes when understanding the entrepreneurial spirit of Gosh Enterprises founder Charley Shin. Charley has assembled a team of venerable solar experts at Gosh Enterprises that are stewards of the renewable energy age with goals that align perfectly with ours to capitalize on the litany of government incentives to accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels.”
About SolarBank Corporation
SolarBank Corporationis an independent renewable and clean energy project developer focusing on distributed and community solar projects in Canada and the USA. The Company develops solar projects that sell electricity to utilities, commercial, industrial, municipal and residential off-takers. The Company maximizes returns via a diverse portfolio of projects across multiple leading solar markets including projects with utilities, host off-takers, community solar, and virtual net metering projects. The Company has developed over 1,000 renewable and clean energy projects with a combined capacity of over 60 megawatts built. It currently has a potential development pipeline of over 700 megawatts. To learn more about SolarBank, please visit www.solarbankcorp.com.
For further information, please contact:
SolarBank Corporation
Tracy Zheng
Email: tracy.zheng@solarbankcorp.com
Phone: 416.494.9559
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, “forward-looking statements”) that relate to the Company’s current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as “will likely result”, “are expected to”, “expects”, “will continue”, “is anticipated”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “estimated”, “intends”, “plans”, “forecast”, ”projection”, “strategy”, “objective” and “outlook”) are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. In particular and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the Company’s expectations regarding its industry trends and overall market growth; the Company’s growth strategies; the expected energy production from the solar power project mentioned in this press release; the megawatt capacity and type of future solar projects; and the transition away from fossil fuels. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release.
Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of the experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate, and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In making the forward looking statements included in this news release, the Company has made various material assumptions, including but not limited to: obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals; that regulatory requirements will be maintained; general business and economic conditions; the Company’s ability to successfully execute its plans and intentions; the availability of financing on reasonable terms; the Company’s ability to attract and retain skilled staff; market competition; the products and services offered by the Company’s competitors; that the Company’s current good relationships with its service providers and other third parties will be maintained; and government subsidies and funding for renewable energy will continue as currently contemplated. Although the Company believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect, and the Company cannot assure that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Given these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
Whether actual results, performance or achievements will conform to the Company’s expectations and predictions is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, including those listed under “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” in the final long form prospectus of the Company dated February 10, 2023, and other public filings of the Company, which include: the Company may be adversely affected by volatile solar power market and industry conditions; the execution of the Company’s growth strategy depends upon the continued availability of third-party financing arrangements; the Company’s future success depends partly on its ability to expand the pipeline of its energy business in several key markets; governments may revise, reduce or eliminate incentives and policy support schemes for solar and battery storage power; general global economic conditions may have an adverse impact on our operating performance and results of operations; the Company’s project development and construction activities may not be successful; developing and operating solar projects exposes the Company to various risks; the Company faces a number of risks involving Power Purchase Agreements (“PPAs”) and project-level financing arrangements; any changes to the laws, regulations and policies that the Company is subject to may present technical, regulatory and economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar power; the markets in which the Company competes are highly competitive and evolving quickly; an anti-circumvention investigation could adversely affect the Company by potentially raising the prices of key supplies for the construction of solar power projects; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; a change in the Company’s effective tax rate can have a significant adverse impact on its business; seasonal variations in demand linked to construction cycles and weather conditions may influence the Company’s results of operations; the Company may be unable to generate sufficient cash flows or have access to external financing; the Company may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future; the Company is subject to risks from supply chain issues; risks related to inflation; unexpected warranty expenses that may not be adequately covered by the Company’s insurance policies; if the Company is unable to attract and retain key personnel, it may not be able to compete effectively in the renewable energy market; there are a limited number of purchasers of utility-scale quantities of electricity; compliance with environmental laws and regulations can be expensive; corporate responsibility may adversely impose additional costs; the future impact of COVID-19 on the Company is unknown at this time; the Company has limited insurance coverage; the Company will be reliant on information technology systems and may be subject to damaging cyberattacks; the Company may become subject to litigation; there is no guarantee on how the Company will use its available funds; the Company will continue to sell securities for cash to fund operations, capital expansion, mergers and acquisitions that will dilute the current shareholders; and future dilution as a result of financings.
The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by law. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of them, or assess the impact of each such factor or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. Any forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement.
