Press Release
Press Release
Press Contacts: Erik Cummins, Matt Hyams, Olivia Thomas
01.17.19
LOS ANGELES -- 8minutenergy Renewables LLC, J.P. Morgan Asset Management and an affiliate of Upper Bay Infrastructure Partners have entered into a joint venture to provide equity capital supporting 8minutenergy's 10.7 gigawatt pipeline of utility solar and storage projects. 8minutenergy is the largest private solar and storage developer in the United States, and the joint venture, along with investment from the company’s CEO Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, provides more than $200 million in capital commitments.
Pillsbury represented Dr. Buttgenbach and his companies in connection with the 8minutenergy transaction and the resulting joint venture.
8minutenergy is wholly-owned by Buttgenbach and the company’s management team as of Dec. 6, 2018. Buttgenbach, who co-founded the company in 2009, earned his Ph.D. in physics and astronomy from the California Institute of Technology. According to the company’s press release, Dr. Buttgenbach’s technology-focused background, combined with experience leading transactions totaling more than $6 billion in land development, power purchase agreements and project finance deals will be instrumental in 8minutenergy's growth strategy moving forward.
“We thank J.P. Morgan and Upper Bay for bringing the long-term focus and financial resources to enable us to unleash the full potential of our pipeline and incredibly talented team,” Buttgenbach said. “We have been the largest and most successful solar developer in California and have expanded our cost leadership across the U.S., developing a solar and storage project pipeline of 10.7 GW. A testament to our low-cost leadership is the 420 MW Eagle Shadow Mountain Solar plant in Nevada, which at 2.3 cents/kWh fixed for 25 years, holds the record for lowest-price solar PPA in the nation. In Texas, which is a purely price-driven competitive market, we will start construction of our 280 MW Holstein 1 power plant in the second quarter of 2019.”
Scotia Bank and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were the lead financial advisors to the joint venture transaction. The Pillsbury deal team included Doug Tribble, Thomas K. Gump, Julie Divola, C. Brian Wainwright, Irina Tsveklova and Olivia Lugar.