Rays of Sunshine in a Year Like No Other
As 2020 draws to a close, we celebrate our community of partners – local developers and installers, project hosts and customers, investors, and our team who rose to every challenge the year presented to move the solar economy forward project by project.
In a year that presented unprecedented obstacles for small businesses, non-profits, and municipalities – the burden of which fell disproportionately on low-income communities and communities of color – we were proud to put shoulder to the wheel with so many of you. Together, we built projects that deliver clean energy and savings to our project hosts and customers and jobs and revenues to local developers and installers, while continuing to provide investors with strong and stable financial returns. Some highlights:
72 consecutive months of payments from power purchasers with no defaults, which in turn translates to 24 consecutive quarters of targeted returns to investors (as of 12/31).
Hundreds of diverse solar projects funded and placed in service (PIS) – including more than 75 projects scheduled for final inspection and PIS in the month of December alone.
A record-setting year for new tax equity and debt investment (stay tuned for details on our new Solar Tax Equity and Bond offerings, coming soon).
Our Sunwealth team grew to 18 – plus our first "brand-new" addition, when CFO and Board Director Omar Blayton and his wife Lauren welcomed their newborn son, Jalil-Shai, this spring.
We doubled down on impact and equity, from the launch of our Low-Income Community Solar initiative with the City of Cambridge to our first solar project development in West Virginia with partners Solar Holler and Coalfield Development.
2020 Photo Highlights
A member of the Solworks Energy installation crew bundles up and masks up to help install a 613 kW solar parking canopy at CityPoint in Waltham, MA, a commercial office building owned by Boston Properties. The low-income community solar project will provide energy savings to income-eligible residents and non-profit affordable housing providers across Greater Boston.
Sunwealth partnered with Encore Renewable Energy and Sundog Solar to build a 405 kW ground mounted solar project at a former landfill in Oakland, ME. The project turns this brownfield site into clean energy savings for the Town of Oakland, located in the heart of the Belgrade Lakes region.
2020 was the year of the solar parking canopy. Sunwealth’s 337 kW project with Resonant Energy and Invaleon Solar at Temple Emunah in Lexington, MA delivers energy savings to the Temple and to income-eligible households across Greater Boston.
Sunwealth collaborated with Solar Energy Systems to build 135 kW of rooftop solar across five buildings in Brooklyn, NY owned by Fifth Avenue Committee, a nonprofit community development organization that provides affordable housing for low- and moderate-income New Yorkers.
The Tucson Mountains provide a beautiful backdrop for our 91 kW solar canopy at El Camino Baptist Church in Tucson, AZ. Sunwealth partnered with SunRay Power on the project, one of the only 100% women-owned solar companies in the country.
Sunwealth partnered with Sunlight Solar and American Microgrid Solutions to build a 96 kW solar installation on the rooftop of The Tyler Apartments, a mixed-income senior living community managed by WinnCompanies. Located in East Haven, CT, the building is the former home of East Haven High School and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sunwealth is in the early stage of generational work to build a better energy future, and 2020 was a test of Sunwealth and our community. It was undoubtedly a year of headwinds, but together, we were both indomitable and impactful. While we prepare for challenges ahead, thanks to you, our partners, we enter 2021 with the largest pipeline of projects under construction in our history, new Solar Bond and Tax Equity offerings for our investors (contact investors@sunwealth.com for details) and a gentle tailwind fostered by a proven solar economy and new administration committed to building a brighter and more inclusive clean energy future.
We wish you and yours a healthy, peaceful and prosperous 2021. Working together with you, we will continue to build a better energy future.
Best,
Jon, Omar, Jess and Charley