SolarBank Announces 2024 Highlights

Press Release

$49.5 Million USD Transaction with Qcells

$45 Million Valued Acquisition of Solar Flow-Through Funds Ltd.

$25.8 Million Royal Bank of Canada Project Finance Facility

Nasdaq Global Market and Cboe Canada Listings

Toronto, Ontario, — SolarBank Corporation (Nasdaq: SUUN; Cboe CA: SUNN; FSE: GY2) (“SolarBank” or the “Company”) today announces highlights and new milestones reached during the 2024 calendar year.  The company remains committed to pioneering the design, delivery, and management of safe, reliable, and clean energy sources throughout North America.

Over $67.5 Million USD Committed by Strategic and Financial Partners:

• US$49.5 Million transaction with Qcells for the sale and subsequent construction of four solar projects in New York State. The projects will utilize Qcells modules manufactured in the USA. Nearly $2.8 billion USD is being invested by Qcells to boost U.S. domestic solar manufacturing and innovation to support and accelerate the U.S. clean energy transition
• $25.8 Million Royal Bank of Canada Project Finance facility to be used to develop and construct two battery energy storage projects acquired as part of the Solar Flow-Through Funds Ltd. acquisition

Corporate Development:

• Nasdaq Listing – The Company began trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on April 8, 2024. SolarBank has qualified under the Nasdaq Global Market® tier, which has the second highest eligibility requirements
• Cboe Canada – The Company listed for trading on February 14, 2024. In North America, Cboe’s U.S. and Canadian equities trading venues handle over $67 billion USD combined in average daily notional value (ADNV)
• Board Expansion – SolarBank appointed Chelsea L. Nickles to its board of directors as an independent director. Ms. Nickles is a renewable energy professional with over 20 years of experience contributing to a net zero world.  For nearly the past decade, Ms. Nickles has been focusing on developing offshore wind projects in multiple jurisdictions with Ørsted, the global leader in offshore wind. Ms. Nickels currently holds the title of Director with Ørsted and serves as a director for several offshore wind companies where she helps to steer their success
• Key Acquisition – The Company closed its acquisition of Solar Flow-Through Funds Ltd. (“SFF”). This transaction valued SFF at up to $45M but the consideration payable excludes the common shares of SFF currently held by the Company
• New Strategic Focus to Include Data Center Colocation – The Company announced that in alignment with its commitment to harnessing clean energy technologies, SolarBank intends to pursue opportunities as a developer, owner, and strategic partner in data center infrastructure, supporting the demand for high-performance, sustainable energy solutions within the emerging AI and data center sectors

Marquis Power Projects Underway:

• $41 million USD transaction with Honeywell International Inc. (“Honeywell”) sees mechanical completion reached on the SB-1, SB-2 and SB-3 Community Solar Projects acquired by Honeywell. The projects are being constructed under an engineering, procurement, and construction (“EPC”) Contract with SolarBank. SolarBank also expects that it will retain an operations and maintenance contract for the projects following the completion of construction
• Fiera Real Estate Transaction. The Company has commenced construction on a 1.4 MW DC rooftop solar project for Fiera Real Estate (“Fiera”) in Alberta as a pilot project. Fiera Real Estate is a leading investment management company that globally manages over $7.0 billion USD of commercial real estate through a range of investment funds and accounts as of December 31, 2023. The project represents SolarBank’s first construction project for Fiera, with more expected.

Other Operational Highlights

• January 2024: SolarBank completed mechanical construction on the 3.7 MW DC Geddes project being developed by the Company in Geddes, New York. The project is expected to provide green energy to 500 homes once operational. The Company intends to own and operate the Geddes project
• January 2024: SolarBank executed a lease agreement on a site in Greenville, New York. SolarBank intends to develop two 7 MW DC (14 MW DC total) ground-mount solar power projects on the site. The project is expected to operate as a community solar site, selling credits to subscribers. 1,600 homes are expected to receive green energy once the system is operational. The Company believes these projects will be eligible for incentives under the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (“NYSERDA”) NY-Sun Program
• January 2024: SolarBank executed a lease agreement on a 15-acre site in Nassau, New York. SolarBank intends to develop a 3 MW DC ground-mount solar power project on the site which is expected to operate as a community solar site, selling credits to subscribers. 350 homes are expected to receive green energy once the system is operational. The Project is expected to be eligible for incentives under the NYSERDA NY-Sun Program
• February 2024: SolarBank executed lease agreements on two closed landfill sites located in Skaneateles, New York and Lewiston, New York, respectively. The Company intends to develop three ground-mount community solar projects across the two sites with a capacity of 19.3 MW DC. The project is expected to operate as a community solar site, selling credits to subscribers. 2,260 homes are expected to receive green energy once the system is operational. The Company’s subsidiary was the successful proponent in an RFP from the private owner of the sites. The projects are expected to be eligible for incentives under the NYSERDA NY-Sun Program
• April 2024: SolarBank closed its previously announced acquisition of a development stage solar project located in the Town of Camillus, New York on a closed landfill from Storke Renewables, LLC. SolarBank intends to develop a 3.15 MW DC ground-mount solar power project on the site that will operate as a community solar project. 360 homes are expected to receive green energy once the system is operational. The project is expected to be eligible for incentives under the NYSERDA NY-Sun Program
• April 2024: SolarBank partnered with TriMac Engineering of Sydney, Nova Scotia to develop a 10 MW DC community solar garden in the rural community of Enon, Nova Scotia, and three 7 MW DC projects in Sydney, Halifax and Annapolis, Nova Scotia respectively (the “Projects”). The Projects are being developed under a Community Solar Program announced by the Government of Nova Scotia on March 1, 2024, and owned by AI Renewable Fund. 4,000 homes are expected to receive green energy once the system is operational
• June 2024: The Company entered into a loan agreement with Seminole Financial Services, LLC for an initial US$2,600,000 construction to mini-perm loan used to complete construction of the Geddes Project located in Upstate, New York

• July 2024: Provided an update on its 3.25 MW DC ground-mount solar power project located in the Town of Camillus, New York on a closed landfill. The project has now received its plan approval and special use permit from the town of Camillus
• August 2024: The Company announced that it intends to develop a 7 MW DC ground-mount solar power project known as the Oak Orchard project located in Clay, New York
• September 2024: The Company announced it intends to develop a 5.4 MW DC ground-mount solar power project known as the Boyle project located in Broome County, New York. The project is expected to employ agrivoltaics (the dual use of land for solar energy production and agriculture) including sheep grazing with a local agricultural partner
• September 2024: The Company announced it intends to develop a 7 MW DC ground-mount solar power project known as the Hwy 28 project on a 45-acre site located in Middletown, New York
• October 2024: The Company announced it intends to develop a 2.9 MW DC ground-mount solar power project known as the Silver Springs project located in Gainesville, New York
• October 2024: The Company announced intention to develop a three-project plan totalling 24.8 MW DC in Pennsylvania. Subject to approval of legislation by the Pennsylvania government, the Company intends to develop community solar projects on the sites
• October 2024: The Company announced it intends to develop a 7.2 MW DC ground-mount solar power project known as the North Main project located in Wyoming County, New York
• November 2024: The Company announced it intends to develop a 3.1 MW DC ground-mount solar power project known as the West Petpeswick project located in Nova Scotia

Dr. Richard Lu, CEO of SolarBank said: “We experienced another year of tremendous growth and accomplishments in 2024 with a number of significant milestones achieved, including project completions, major acquisitions, execution on the development pipeline, major project sales and senior stock exchange listings.  We predict continued forward momentum on these projects and new initiatives, on all of which we will provide ongoing updates as appropriate.”

Risk Factors

There are several risks associated with the development of the projects detailed in this press release. The development of any project is subject to the continued availability of third-party financing arrangements for the project owners and the risks associated with the construction of a solar power project. There is no certainty the projects disclosed in this press release will be completed on schedule or that they will operate in accordance with their design capacity. If the EPC agreements are terminated, then SolarBank will not realize the full contract value. In addition, governments may revise, reduce or eliminate incentives and policy support schemes for solar power, which could result in future projects no longer being economic.

SolarBank is expanding into the data center industry, but it does not currently have any data center projects under development or that it has secured rights to. SolarBank does not have any contracts with the parties mentioned in this news release. It is in discussions with various other parties regarding potential data center opportunities and will provide details in a future news release if an agreement to acquire or develop a data center is concluded. The development of any data center project is subject to identifying a suitable project site, receipt of required permits, entry into contracts for construction and the use of the data center, the availability of third-party financing arrangements for the Company and the risks associated with the construction of a data center.

Please refer to “Forward-Looking Statements” for additional discussion of the assumptions and risk factors associated with the statements in this press release. Please also refer to SolarBank’s filings on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and EDGAR at www.sec.gov for additional information on the matters disclosed in this press release.

Where applicable Canadian dollar amounts have been converted to US dollars using an exchange rate of Cdn$1.00: US$0.70.

About SolarBank Corporation

SolarBank Corporation is an independent renewable and clean energy project developer and owner focusing on distributed and community solar projects in Canada and the USA. The Company develops solar, Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) and EV Charging projects that sell electricity to utilities, commercial, industrial, municipal and residential off-takers. The Company maximizes returns via a diverse portfolio of projects across multiple leading North America markets including projects with utilities, host off-takers, community solar, and virtual net metering projects. The Company has a potential development pipeline of over one gigawatt and has developed renewable and clean energy projects with a combined capacity of over 100 megawatts built. To learn more about SolarBank, visit www.solarbankcorp.com.

For further information, please contact:‎
Company Contact
SolarBank Corporation
Tracy Zheng
Email: tracy.zheng@solarbankcorp.com
Phone: 416.494.9559

Corporate Communications Contact:
IBN
Austin, Texas
www.InvestorBrandNetwork.com
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