Burlington-based Encore Renewable Energy has announced a $389 million financing agreement with a Canadian investment company.
The funding from Brookfield Asset Management — which is a combination of loans and tax credit transfers — is earmarked primarily for construction of an existing portfolio of 25 projects across the U.S., which includes six in Vermont.
Encore is in the process of constructing four solar projects in Barre, Danville, West Rutland and Sheldon and installing two large-scale batteries in Royalton and Middlebury, which can store renewable energy and feed it back into the electrical grid when solar production is low, according to Lauren Glickman, Encore’s vice president of policy and communications.
All 25 projects in the portfolio are on track to be completed by the end of 2026, Glickman said.
Because of the federal and state tax credits available for clean energy assets, such as Encore’s solar projects, investment in these projects is attractive to companies like Brookfield. However, as the new Trump administration takes shape, some investors have cooled on major renewable projects. Encore sees the investment as a vote of confidence during a period otherwise defined by doubt, according to co-CEO Blake Sturcke.
“The industry is facing a higher level of uncertainty than it had been previously, and because of the uncertainty that’s been created, capital is generally going to be harder to raise,” Sturcke said. “We feel so fortunate that Brookfield has the confidence in us that we were able to raise this money.”
He said the influx of capital is a boon for the company to keep expanding, even as smaller renewable companies may face challenges with the current administration. Sturcke said he hopes it will allow the company to bring on new jobs for Vermonters and create more trickle-down opportunities in construction and development for their projects.
In addition to the 25 projects primarily included in this financing, some of the funding will go toward a broader portfolio of 100 projects in earlier phases of development. The company also has plans for the development of three utility-scale batteries in West Rutland, Barre and Bennington.
Sturcke sees the next big push for Encore as moving more into renewable energy storage projects — batteries like those under construction in Middlebury and Royalton.
“As it relates to increasing the percentage of (energy) load that can be renewable and to grid stability, I think (battery storage) is so important, and we think there’s a big opportunity to make a difference there,” Sturcke said.
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