Catalyze, a clean energy transition company that finances, builds, owns, and operates solar, battery storage, and electric vehicle charging systems for commercial and industrial customers, today held a ribbon cutting to commemorate the launch of the Sheep Creek Community Solar Farm in Adelanto, California. This project marks the first under California’s Enhanced Community Renewables (ECR) program to be contracted by one of the state’s three investor-owned utilities, Southern California Edison (SCE).
As one of the first community solar farms in Southern California, Sheep Creek Community Solar Farm is designed to generate clean energy for both residential and commercial accounts. There are currently 241 subscribers. The 3.8 MWdc project, developed and managed by Catalyze and Ampion, a leading community solar subscription and revenue management company, will expand access to solar energy for customers who do not own their property, are not able to pay the upfront cost of solar installation, or have a roof that is in poor condition or shaded. The project will support SCE’s efforts to comply with California's Green Tariff Shared Renewables program, requiring the state’s investor-owned utilities to offer 100% solar energy options to their customers.
“Community solar plays a key role in ensuring that participation in the clean energy transition is accessible to all,” said Jared Haines, CEO of Catalyze. “We couldn’t be prouder to develop the first front-of-the-meter community solar project that supports California’s ECR program. It is our hope that Sheep Creek can act as an example for other projects to follow statewide, and we can accelerate the execution of more community solar projects to help reach the goal of ensuring widespread availability of renewable energy.”
California's ECR program, a component of the Green Tariff Shared Renewables program, gives utility customers the opportunity to receive 100% clean energy from the state’s largest utilities. Under the structure of the program, utility customers can subscribe to a portion of a community solar project. The customer pays for the amount of energy to which they are subscribed. The customer then receives a credit on their utility bill that reflects this amount of electricity produced by their share of the solar farm. This process is managed by Ampion, which handles subscriber acquisition and revenue management for the Sheep Creek site.
"Community solar’s debut in the Southern California Edison territory marks a watershed moment for the state and the movement,” said Nate Owen, CEO of Ampion. “Since community solar projects have no upfront cost or installation needed for users, they are an excellent way for states to give their citizens access to renewable energy. With Ampion’s successful acquisition of both enterprise and residential customers, all energy generated from the site will be used by the community. We are thrilled to partner with Catalyze to expand community solar’s reach in California and look forward to continuing to help grow this critical market."
The ECR program allows low-to-middle-income residents, who have traditionally been left out of the energy transition, to reduce their own carbon footprint and utility costs while alleviating stress on the power grid. Solar energy provided by the Sheep Creek project will add to California’s renewable energy supply portfolio and assist in reaching the state’s goal of 100% renewable energy use by 2045.
Catalyze is owned by leading energy investors EnCap Investments L.P. and Actis.
About Catalyze
Catalyze is a national Energy Transition Partner that develops, finances, owns, and operates integrated renewable assets, and combines its proprietary technology, financial strength, and battery and electric vehicle savvy to deliver standardized, yet configurable systems that meet their partners’ unique needs. These offerings enable commercial and industrial property owners, operating companies, and their customers to extract greater value from their assets, take increased responsibility and ownership of their energy profile, and ultimately become part of the clean energy transition. Catalyze owns two proprietary technologies – REenergyzeⓇ, an origination-to-operations software integration platform that helps accelerate and scale the nationwide adoption of commercial and industrial solar and storage, and SolarStrapⓇ, a proprietary mounting technology to install rooftop panels.
About EnCap Investments L.P.
Since 1988, EnCap Investments has been a leading provider of growth capital to the independent sector of the U.S. energy industry. The firm has raised 24 institutional investment funds totaling approximately $40 billion and currently manages capital on behalf of more than 350 U.S. and international investors. Founded in 2019, the EnCap Energy Transition platform is led by four Managing Partners, each with 30-35 years of experience in the development and operations of renewables and power generation.
About Actis
Actis is a leading global investor in sustainable infrastructure. Actis has raised $US25 billion since inception and has more than US$15 billion of assets under management. A team of over 120 investment professionals operates from 17 offices across five continents. Actis’ global experience, operational know-how and strong culture allows it to build and operate global sustainability leaders of scale, while delivering competitive returns for institutional investors and measurable positive impact for the countries, cities and communities in which it operates. Actis is a signatory to the United Nations backed Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), an investor initiative developed by the UNEP FI and the UN Global Compact. The firm has consistently been awarded the highest rating score in the UNPRI independent assessment.
About Ampion
Ampion provides turnkey subscription and revenue management solutions for renewable energy developers nationwide, simplifying the complex world of distributed generation. From prospect to payment, we maximize investor returns in a holistic way, optimizing revenue with a customer management platform purpose-built for community distributed generation. We’re industry veterans with the people, platform, and processes required to help developers and asset owners get the most out of their portfolios. Our clients choose us because we make their projects more predictable and more profitable, with better data insights, happier subscribers, and less risk.