Project Description:
Unique financing solutions and a commitment to sustainable energy insured successful solar installations to four Dallas-area apartment homes owned by AMLI Residential, a US luxury apartment company based in Chicago. Their Dallas-area apartment communities used an electric provider that offered sub-optimal incentives for solar. Further, REITs are not taxable entities, complicating their ability to take advantage of federal tax credits.
Green Mountain Energy, a HOLT Renewables partner and clean energy retail electric provider (REP) in the deregulated Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market negotiated with AMLI to become their electric provider in Dallas. This let AMLI receive cash incentives from Green Mountain's SolarSparc fund as they transitioned to solar. AMLI passed the federal tax incentives to its individual shareholders. Using an innovative financing solution from Key Bank, they captured over 35% of the projects’ value that would have otherwise been lost. With these solutions in place, AMLI felt confident moving forward. The contracts created a 445 kW portfolio to power 100 percent of all common areas across four apartment communities in the Dallas area. Successful projects in 2017 led to two more contracts in 2018, creating a 445kW portfolio, offsetting 750,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year.
