Firm Continues Efforts to Help Air Force Add Solar Power
Washington, DC. Nixon Peabody LLP is pleased to add another project to its continued work in helping the United States military add solar power to its arsenal. This month, the firm announced that it served as advisor on a project with U.S. Bancorp and SolarCity in their creation of a solar energy equity fund that is the first phase of a five-year, nationwide initiative to provide existing privatized military housing access to solar power.
3/20/2012
Called SolarStrong, the initiative is expected to create a maximum of 300 megawatts of solar generation capacity that could provide power to 120,000 privatized military family homes. If completed as planned, SolarStrong is expected to be the largest residential solar photovoltaic project in American history, according to SolarCity.
U.S. Bancorp’s investment in SolarCity is part of its ongoing partnership with SolarCity which first began in 2009 to finance solar projects for U.S. homeowners and businesses. Nixon Peabody served as U.S. Bancorp’s counsel. The team was led by Tax Credit Finance & Syndication partners Gary Band and Herb Stevens and Energy partner Ellen Friedman.
Nixon Peabody previously helped National Bank of Arizona and SolarCity install a solar system on Arizona’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in the base’s privatized housing neighborhood, Soaring Heights Community. The facility was designed to produce more than 14.5 megawatts of electricity annually, sufficient to provide 75 percent of residents’ energy use. Prior to that, the firm served as legal counsel on the completion of what was at the time North America’s largest solar photovoltaic system at Nevada’s Nellis Air Force Base. The facility was planned to supply at least 25 percent of the power for the base, or 14 megawatts.
