Back when The Restoration Economy first documented the rise of the then-new brownfields remediation and redevelopment industry, the concept of turning toxic former industrial sites and closed landfills into renewable energy facilities was just a gleam in the eyes of a few smart folks at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Now, entire companies are focused on brightfields, and on community-owned renewable energy infrastructure.
We reported on a newly-formed such company—Watershed Solar Development—in the previous issue of REVITALIZATION. But a well-established brightfield firm is Encore Renewable Energy.
Encore is now accelerating their mission of developing solar and energy storage projects on underutilized property with an infusion of development capital from North Carolina’s Leyline Renewable Capital under their first fund, Windstar Fund I, L.P..
“We are thrilled to be working with Leyline to further our commitment to the clean energy economy in the Northeast and beyond,” said Encore CEO Chad Farrell.
“With a management team that has developed, built and financed over 100 large-scale renewable energy projects totaling over 1 gigawatt of generation, Leyline is well positioned to understand our project development approach. They’re providing a critically important source of capital that will support our plans to scale our business,” he added.
Leyline, a renewable energy finance company based in Durham, provides development capital for early- to mid-stage renewable energy developers, which accelerates their development process and the growth of their project pipelines.
Since 2017, Leyline has provided development capital to experienced developers across the U.S., accelerating the development of hundreds of megawatts of projects.
The companies just closed a deal to loan Encore its next $1.8 million in capital to speed up development of community-scale solar arrays and energy storage facilities on sites such as brownfields, landfills, parking lots, and gravel pits that can be given a new lease on life by generating clean energy.
“Leyline looks forward to seeing Encore grow with the development capital we have been able to provide,” said Erik Lensch, CEO of Leyline Renewable Energy.
“We invest in developers with long track records and proven development capabilities that we believe are positioned to rapidly expand their businesses. Encore, having successfully completed nearly 70 projects to date, with robust prospects for many more in the near future, is exactly the type of company we seek to work with,” he concluded.
Photo shows Encore’s solar farm on a closed landfill in Stowe, Vermont.