Soltage and Tenaska announce acquisition of solar portfolio in the U.S.

Independent energy company Tenaska and Soltage, LLC, a full-service renewable energy company developing, financing and operating solar power plants across the United States, have announced the acquisition of a portfolio of solar generating assets in a number of states, including Massachusetts and Connecticut. This is Tenaska's first transaction in a portfolio-level investment vehicle with Soltage; Tenaska contributed a second corporate investment in the renewable company in March.

The majority of the capital will be deployed for the construction of new assets, which Tenaska and Soltage will own and Soltage will manage and operate. Those assets will sell power to a combination of municipal and health care offtakers under Net Metering Credit and Power Purchase agreements, with commercial operation dates expected in late 2015 and mid-2016. The portfolio also includes several solar generation assets already in commercial operation in various northeastern states. This investment continues Soltage's momentum as it expects to deploy more than$250 million for roughly 125 megawatts (MW) of solar projects through 2015 and 2016.

Jesse Grossman, Soltage co-founder and CEO, stated:

"Distributed solar generation empowers government and corporate consumers to lock in electricity costs well below utility rates, even if they can't host onsite systems. Rising electricity prices and falling project costs continue to make solar a smart investment for forward-looking utilities and consumers."

Tim Hemig, Tenaska managing director, distributed solar investments, commented:

"Tenaska is pleased to deploy long-term capital into the rapidly growing distributed solar sector. We continue to be impressed with Soltage's ability to assemble strong portfolios of solar projects."

Roughly 16.6 gigawatts (GW) of utility-scale solar PV capacity is currently in development across the U.S., and project costs are forecast to fall 40 percent by 2020 according to GTM Research. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects a 2.6 percent annual growth in electricity prices, while annual power consumption is predicted to grow 0.7 percent for industrial customers and 0.5 percent for commercial customers through 2040.