Silverado Power Enters Solar Development Market with 400 MW in Utility-Scale Projects Underway

Seasoned Executive Team for San Francisco-Based Solar Development Firm Overcomes Hurdles to Fast Track Essential Projects

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Solar Power International 2010—Silverado Power, the nation’s largest independent full life cycle solar power development company, announced today at Solar Power International that it is formally coming to market with nearly 400 MW of utility-scale projects underway. Created as a joint venture between a tightly knit group of industry veterans and Martifer Solar, a large European energy and infrastructure company, Silverado Power has more than 75 US solar farms in various stages of development and 40 already filed for interconnection in energy-hungry Southern California alone. The company’s focus on developing low-transmission utility-scale projects close to the grid, will bring new renewable power plants to production in as little as 18 months.

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Silverado Power’s launch comes at a critical time as California has struggled to reach its Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) goals; the state has mandated that utilities obtain nearly 33 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020. Unfortunately, a majority of large scale solar thermal projects have been delayed by numerous obstacles, including environmental issues and the lack of transmission infrastructure required to connect major rural projects to the large cities that urgently need power.

“The solar industry has made great strides in the last five years but hasn’t addressed a fundamental problem; how to reduce the time-to-production for solar energy. The lack of transmission infrastructure has been one of the main contributors. We are confident that Silverado Power will play a crucial role in helping California utilities meet its energy needs through a distributed model that avoids this problem, satisfying environmental regulations and avoiding transmission issues that normally prevent power from reaching end-users. In many cases, transmission is more valuable than the land,” said John Cheney, CEO, Silverado Power.

The critical element of Silverado Power’s business model is its ability to expedite the process of getting a project up and running. When California-based utilities are searching for the means to meet their renewable goals, Silverado Power possesses the land and the interconnection agreements to avoid lengthy approval processes in the initial phases of development and eliminate the transmission obstacles that tend to slow other major utility scale projects. Focused on collaborative development, Silverado Power works closely with local government, utilities and technology providers, enabling projects to come on line with more support from communities and regulators and at less cost than competitors, creating an unmatched mechanism and process for utilities to meet their RPS mandates, and for society to reduce its carbon footprint and its dependency on traditional, diminishing fossil fuels.

For more information or to arrange a meeting with Silverado at the Solar Power International conference this week, please call Kim Angell or Steven Webb at [phone].

About Silverado Power

Created as a joint venture between a tightly knit group of industry veterans and Martifer Solar, a large European energy and infrastructure company, Silverado Power takes a non-traditional approach to solar development while maintaining ties to the established industry processes. Together, the team combines a comprehensive set of knowledge on solar development with the strong support of a global, publicly traded energy and infrastructure company with a proven track record, uniquely positioning Silverado Power to drive forward a true, solar development solution. Unlike other players in the solar energy development space, Silverado Power’s hands-on approach shepherds the full life cycle of development projects – from interconnection and permitting through PPA through physical plant development. The company has established partnerships that include investor-owned utilities, local government, equipment manufacturers, and EPC providers.

For more information, go to www.silveradopower.com.