Vermont Business Magazine For the past eight months, the Acorn Renewable Energy Co-op of Middlebury has been marketing shares in a proposed community solar project, Acorn Energy Solar 4 (AES4), to be located on the closed Hinesburg landfill in Vermont Electric Cooperative’s (VEC) service territory.
However, only about a third of the available units in the project have been spoken for as of April 1, 2023. Acorn has agreed with its builder, Aegis Renewable Energy of Waitsfield, that unless Acorn is able to complete the sale of at least 75% of AES4 shares to investors by Thursday, April 20, Acorn will cease its AES4 marketing efforts.
“We are going to give our sales effort one last push,” says Acorn president Benjamin Marks. “If we can reach the number of sales by April 20 needed to hold our financial closing and start construction, we will move forward with the project. We have asked our existing Co-op members to contact friends and relations in the VEC service territory and have reached out to potential investors to be sure they know that this opportunity will only be available for a short amount of time. For those folks who have already made a deposit on their investments, that money will be returned in full if Acorn concludes it must cease marketing efforts.”
Union Mutual Insurance Company has been a major investor in the project. “This is a unique investment opportunity,” said Union Mutual Chief Financial Officer Jennifer Galfetti. “Our Company got involved because we understand the importance of local, financially sustainable and affordable energy sources. We hope that other companies will help bring this project to fruition so that one of Vermont’s ‘brownfield’ sites can be developed into a productive community-owned solar project.”
Acorn’s construction agreement with Aegis provides that if Acorn is not able to reach a financial closing within an acceptable time period, Aegis will have the right to take over the project and construct it using a different funding model. In that case, Aegis must complete project construction before the July 6, 2023, deadline imposed by the project’s Certificate of Public Good.
Given the time constraints, Aegis has indicated that it intends to exercise its option on April 20th if Acorn cannot find enough investors by then.
Acorn is announcing this deadline now so that those who have expressed interest in the project, but not yet reached a decision, can still decide to participate. For more information on the Hinesburg project, please contact Mary Mester at [email protected] or 802-385-1911.
4.4.2023. Acorn Renewable Energy Co-op, Middlebury www.acornenergycoop.com. https://livegreenvt.org/