PRESS RELEASE
Renew Energy Partners (“RENEW”) announced today the financing of its fourth investment vehicle—Renew Energy Efficiency Projects 4, (“EEP4”). The special purpose entity has executed a Master Revolving Loan and Security Agreement (MRLSA) with Mitsubishi HC Capital America, Inc. RENEW is the majority equity investor in EEP4. The special purpose entity will be used to fund a portfolio of projects including energy efficiency, combined cooling, heating, and power, distributed generation, micro-grids, battery energy storage, thermal storage, and electric vehicle charging stations for commercial, industrial and institutional customers. RENEW received a strategic growth investment from Greenbacker Capital in 2022.
Immediately following the execution of the MRLSA, EEP4 purchased a majority interest in EEP3—RENEW’s third investment vehicle which includes the MACOM microgrid project in Lowell, MA, the Isla Frio cold storage efficiency project in Puerto Rico, and $100 million of signed memoranda of understanding for future business.
“The launch of our fourth investment vehicle, coupled with the acquisition of assets from EEP3, allows RENEW to further pursue our mission of making it financially compelling to decarbonize the built environment as we continue investing in and now will own new projects going forward. Buildings are responsible for 40% of all energy use in the United States. In order to achieve national carbon reduction goals, decarbonizing the building stock is essential,” said Charlie Lord, Principal and Co-founder of RENEW.
“We’re proud to further develop our relationship with RENEW by establishing a credit facility for EEP4,” said Stéphane Arsenault, Senior Vice President of Sustainable Development Finance at Mitsubishi HC Capital America. “RENEW has a talented management team and strong equity support from Greenbacker Capital. This debt facility will boost RENEW’s ability to move efficiently and capture more share in this important market.”
The MACOM project is a combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system at a semiconductor manufacturer facility. The CCHP system was coupled with a battery energy storage system (BESS) and a microgrid controller. EEP3 owns 100% of the assets and sells metered energy back to the client at a discounted rate. The microgrid system has resulted in a substantial reduction of carbon emissions, estimated at 1869 metric tons annually. This is equivalent to the electricity consumption of 339 homes for one year and the gasoline consumption of 24.7 tanker trucks.
The Isla Frio project in Cidra, Puerto Rico is a Viking Cold Thermal Energy Storage System which leverages existing refrigeration equipment in low-temperature facilities to freeze Phase Change Material (PCM) and create electricity arbitrage opportunities. Intelligent controls turn off refrigeration equipment during periods of high energy costs while the PCM maintains temperature stability and lowers overall energy consumption. Annual carbon reduction is estimated at 209 metric tons.