Toronto, Ontario–(Newsfile Corp. – March 22, 2023) – UGE International Ltd. (TSXV: UGE) (OTCQB: UGEIF) (the “Company” or “UGE”), a leader in commercial and community solar, announces that it has reached the ‘Notice to Proceed’ (NTP) milestone for a 2.7 megawatt ground-mount community solar project in Veazie, Maine. The Notice to Proceed milestone indicates that financing for the project has closed, and all necessary permits and interconnection approvals for the project are in place.
To be built atop a former concrete fabrication and storage site, the Veazie project will be UGE’s second brownfield redevelopment project, potentially leading to an extra 10% in Investment Tax Credit (ITC). The Company’s first brownfield redevelopment is a 1MW community solar project in Norway, Maine, which is on track to reach mechanical completion by the end of this month and commercial operation later this spring.
The former concrete fabrication site is owned by Sky Villa Properties, a Veazie-based commercial real estate developer and management company.
“We are glad to be playing a part in bringing cheaper, cleaner electricity to our friends and neighbors in Veazie,” said David St. Germain, CEO of Sky Villa Properties.
Customer subscriptions for the project will be managed by Energywell, an energy technology company offering clean electricity and community solar products under its Think brand names. All energy produced by the projects will be used by local residents.
“We’re thrilled about our partnership with UGE in Maine,” said Michael Fallquist, CEO of Energywell. “UGE’s commitment to community solar growth is aligned with our mission to connect our existing residential customers with green, predictable, and energy savings products for years to come.”
The area where the project will be built is categorized as a low-to-moderate income (LMI) community; as such the project is expected to receive the 10% LMI Investment Tax Credit adder instated as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to help bring the economic and environmental benefits of solar development to communities that might otherwise be excluded, potentially bringing the total ITC on the project to 50%.
UGE had the project appraised by an independent third party at a value of $3.39 per watt, with the project’s total fair market value at $9.1 million. Once operational the project is estimated to produce an average of $593,874 in annual revenue, with a total facility lifetime of up to 35 years.
Notice to Proceed on the Veazie project followed UGE’s closing earlier this week of a $12.5 million debt facility and a $7.1 million tax equity facility to fund three Maine projects.
The project in Veazie is among 18MW of solar projects UGE has under development in the state of Maine. With this project, UGE has reached NTP on 6.2MW of projects and commercial operation on 1.4MW of projects so far this year. Construction on the Veazie project is set to begin this spring.
CORRECTION NOTICE: This post was updated on April 4, 2023 to correct the project’s average annual revenue, which is $593,874. In the original press release, the project’s capacity was listed incorrectly as $449,600.
About UGE
UGE develops, owns, and operates commercial and community solar projects in the US and strategic markets abroad. Our distributed energy solutions deliver cheaper, cleaner energy to businesses and consumers with no upfront cost. With over 500MW of global experience, we work daily to power a more sustainable world.
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