ClearGen and Davis Hill invest US$150 million in US community and commercial solar
The ClearGen investment will boost Davis Hill Development’s portfolio, which currently stands at 60MW of commercial and industrial (C&I) scale capacity across 15 US states. The companies said that the partnership will seek to deliver “long-term economic and environmental value” while improving access to community solar projects.
“This partnership gives us the committed capital to confidently execute our growing pipeline,” added Davis Hill Development CEO Matt Coleman.
The community solar sector has gone from strength to strength in recent years in the US, with a record 1.7GW of new capacity additions in 2024. Much of this growth has been concentrated in the north-east, where Davis Hill Development is based; earlier this year, the state of New Jersey announced plans to add 3GW of new community solar capacity over the next four years.
In other US community solar news, US distributed generation platform Aspen Power has acquired two community solar projects in Illinois, with a combined capacity of 13.9MW, from Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure.
The two projects, in Grafton and Rochester, are currently under construction, and will operate as what Aspen calls “community solar gardens,” for local residents and businesses who can subscribe to the projects to receive electricity at a discounted price.
The Grafton and Rochester projects form part of a larger portfolio of projects in both Illinois and New York state. While Aspen Power did not discuss details of the larger portfolio, it noted that the other sites in the portfolio are “nearing final completion”, and that no deal has been completed for them yet.
“Solar is the cheapest form of power available to Americans of all income levels,” said Aspen CEO Jorge Vargas. “By supporting the state’s ambitious renewable energy goals, we are helping to decarbonise the grid while delivering lasting economic and environmental benefits to local communities.”
Aspen also announced the closure of a tax equity facility with Monarch Private Capital to support the development of solar portfolios across the states of Illinois, New York and Pennsylvania. The deal brings the company’s total tax equity commitments secured in the first eight months of the year to US$66 million, and Aspen CFO Bill DeLong described the support of tax equity partnerships as “essential” to realising the company’s ambitions.
PV Tech publisher Solar Media will host the 12th edition of the Solar & Storage Finance USA event on 21-22 October 2025 in New York. Panellists will discuss the fate of US solar and storage in a post-subsidy world, the evolving economics of standalone BESS and de-risking solar and storage supply chains. Book your tickets for the event on the official website.