Encore Renewable Energy, a Vermont-based renewable energy developer, operator, and independent power producer (IPP), has closed on a $389 million financing solution from Brookfield Asset Management through its infrastructure debt platform.
The capital will accelerate Encore’s growth as an IPP by financing the construction of a portfolio of community-scale solar and battery energy storage projects and supporting the further expansion and advancement of the company’s development pipeline.
Encore says the deal employs a pioneering approach that meets the complete capital requirements for constructing and expanding a distributed generation portfolio through combined non-dilutive debt and tax equity facilities. The financing structure integrates construction-to-term debt and a tax equity bridge within a single debt facility, complemented by a preferred equity facility dedicated to tax equity financing.
“We are developing and constructing dozens of projects at a time. This financing provides an innovative solution across a large pipeline of solar and storage projects, in excess of half a gigawatt,” Chris Clement, CFO and CIO of Encore Renewable Energy, told Renewable Energy World. “This offers appealing diversification benefits across markets and project profiles to our capital partners in contrast to the larger utility-scale market in which single projects or small portfolios of large projects are financed at a time.”
Blake Sturcke, co-CEO of Encore Renewable Energy, called the financing solution a “transformational moment” for the company that positions it to meet rapidly increasing energy demand across the U.S.
Clement adds that he’s confident Brookfield represents the ideal financing partner for Encore, a certified B Corporation, as it scales as a distributed generation IPP.
Brookfield, a global alternative asset manager boasting more than $1 trillion of assets across a swath of sectors, is an active player in the power generation space and has done several recent large deals with renewable developers.
Earlier this month, Miami, Florida-based Origis Energy, which develops, builds, and operates large-scale clean generation and storage projects, announced a new strategic investment from Brookfield and new commitments from existing sponsor Antin Infrastructure Partners potentially exceeding $1 billion. The fresh capital and support are intended to accelerate Origis Energy’s own growth as an IPP and advance its growing portfolio of solar and battery energy storage assets. Origis has a roughly 1 gigawatt (GW) project portfolio across four states with an additional 3 GW of in-construction or construction-ready projects and 25 GW more planned.
In June 2023, Brookfield announced it would buy Duke Energy’s utility-scale renewable energy business for $2.8 billion. The transaction closed a few months later.
Renewable energy policy in Vermont
In May 2024, Republican Vermont Governor Phil Scott vetoed a bill that would have required all state utilities to transition entirely to renewable energy by 2035, asserting it would be too costly for ratepayers. The legislation proposed the state’s biggest utilities meet the goal by 2030. Vermont utilities were already required to buy 75% renewable energy by 2032.
“After significant debate and discussion across multiple committees, the Vermont legislature overwhelmingly supported expanding our renewable energy goals to embrace the cost-driven shift to clean energy resources and make Vermont the second state in the country to reach 100% renewable energy,” Chad Farrell, founder and co-CEO of Encore, explained to Renewable Energy World. Encore, based in Burlington, VT, is the largest solar developer in the state and was frustrated by Governor Scott’s decision.
But the following month, Vermont lawmakers made history by overriding six of Governor Scott’s vetoes for the year, including H.289, the one setting a new renewable energy standard. Scott condemned the Legislature’s actions, saying lawmakers failed to adopt his “common-sense” compromises that he claimed would have made the bills “more equitable and affordable.”
