Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure (GSI) Announces Utility Scale Deal with AquaSan to Provide Up to 233 MW in New Solar Capacity to Five U.S. States

Libra Group Subsidiary Announces a Transaction that Doubles Renewable Energy Portfolio Footprint in North America Reaching a Fifth of U.S. States.

NEW YORK, March 1, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure (www.greenwoodinfra.com) (GSI) announced it has taken a step towards providing more affordable, reliable, and clean access to energy for Americans. The North American solar energy investment and development subsidiary of the Libra Group announced that it has acquired a scalable portfolio of solar developments from AquaSan Network-subsidiary CMDAJ Holdings LLC (CMDAJ). This acquisition positions GSI to provide up to 233 megawatt (MW) in affordable, utility scale solar energy to new markets, including Minnesota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. 

Initially, GSI will develop 40 MW of early-stage utility scale solar developments in Minnesota, with the option to build an additional 193 MW in Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, doubling its current footprint to 10 U.S. states.  Following this transaction, Libra Group subsidiaries, including GSI, will be close to reaching the one-gigawatt development mark, proving 950 MW in solar, wind and waste-to-energy with over 220 projects owned, currently under development, or previously developed in six countries.

These developments will provide power to a combination of regulated utilities, investor-owned utilities and U.S. businesses allowing them to purchase solar energy to meet clean energy goals and lock in reduced electricity costs. The portfolio will increase access to reliable, clean energy and promote local job creation and the provision of clean, reliable and renewable water.  

"We were proud to partner with CMDAJ, a team of experienced renewable energy and water project developers in Denver Colorado, to complete this deal which will increase access to reliable, clean energy and promote local job creation," said Camilo Patrignani, Libra Group EVP of Energy. "The company and this transaction represent a key part of the Libra Group's commitment to renewable energy in the Americas and around the world."

The U.S. renewable energy market is a multibillion-dollar sector. A global focus on clean power, where many U.S. developers lead the field, has given rise to new solutions with improved technology offering greater efficiencies year upon year. The assets from this deal will be co-owned and co-developed by the GSI and CMDAJ partnership. Once the projects are ready to build, GSI plans to construct and operate the power plants.

"This is a very exciting announcement that will cement GSI's growth plans hand in hand with CMDAJ, and continue to support and advance the nation's transition to a reliable, clean energy future," said Mazen Turk, GSI CEO. "Since the start of operations in 2010, GSI has developed and built over 32 renewable energy assets and this acquisition furthers our exposure to the utility scale energy segment."

"CMDAJ's team has developed over 2 gigawatts of thermal, solar, biomass and wind projects over the last 20 years and this partnership will enable us to expand our development portfolio and vertically integrate our efforts in renewable energy and water" said Carmine Iadarola, CEO of CMDAJ and AquaSan Network, Inc. 

About Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure and Libra Group

Greenwood Sustainable Infrastructure (www.greenwoodinfra.com) is one of the clean energy subsidiaries of the Libra Group (www.libra.com), a privately-owned international business group spanning 35 countries across six continents and active in renewable energy, aviation, hospitality, real estate and shipping as well as selected diversified investments.

GSI is focused investment, development, and operation of both distributed generation and utility-scale solar energy projects in North America.  As of January 2022, the company developed approximately 200 MW in 32 renewable energy projects, many of which are still owned or operated by GSI. Recent partners include DTE Energy, Delmarva Power, and Duke Energy.

Its sister company, Greenwood Energy Latinoamérica (www.greenwoodlatam.com), is currently developing or managing close to 100 MW of on-site solar energy systems for public and private sector organizations wishing to offset their energy costs in Latin America, including the first utility-scale project in Panama. The Libra Group also owns Convergen Latvia, operating three biogas plants in Latvia and EuroEnergy (www.euroenergy.com), which operates solar and wind farms across Europe.

About CMDAJ and AquaSan

AquaSan was formed in 1983 by its current CEO Carmine Iadarola to provide administrative and technical services for the water infrastructure business. Over time, Aquasan got involved in the development of renewable energy projects as well and since then had developed 1,100 MWs of natural gas power, 1,000 MWs of wind, and 500 MWs of solar. AquaSan is a family owned business that employs 5 people and has rendered services to companies like Nextera, GCL, Xcel, Dominion, Pine Gate, Candela, Google, Kiewit and others.