Montreal-based Gaz Métro has acquired Standard Solar, a Rockville, Maryland equipment supplier, and is now looking to offer financing for commercial and industrial solar projects, Standard Solar CEO Scott Wiater said earlier this week.
“We’ve been through the tough times, and know how the financial partners don’t always act as a partner,” Wiater told Renewable Energy World. “We’re going to change that dynamic and help companies, versus hinder companies, get their projects across the finish line.”
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With backing from an established Quebec utility with US$5.8 billion in assets, “Standard Solar is ready to grow the commercial market significantly,” REWorld reports, “not just by building its own projects, but also by helping finance other projects that are struggling to get financing.”
“There’s a significant growth opportunity for us in the U.S.,” Gaz Métro Senior Vice President of Operations Martin Imbleau told the Montreal Gazette. “What we’re buying is expertise and experience in the U.S. It’s not to replicate that model in Canada.”
Gaz Métro already owns Green Mountain Power, the electricity distributor for the majority of the state of Vermont and one of the most innovative utilities in the U.S. Wiater pointed to that business connection as an advantage for Standard Solar. “One of the fringe benefits that we are excited about is [the] information sharing between us and a regulated utility,” he said.
