Solar installer Borrego has been selected by Greenbacker Renewable Energy to engineer and construct two utility-scale solar projects in Montana and South Dakota. The projects are the largest to date for Greenbacker as well as Borrego’s engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) group and are the first for Borrego in the two states.

“These projects represent the latest and biggest additions to Borrego’s quickly growing utility-scale solar resume,” said Brian Barker, who was recently promoted to executive vice president of Borrego’s EPC unit. “Our success comes from having the confidence of partners like Greenbacker to help them make better decisions through project risk mitigation, module procurement and project optimization, ultimately increasing project financial returns.”

The 80-MWAC Montana Sun (MTSun) Solar project is located on a 489-acre site in Yellowstone County, Montana. The 80-MWAC Fall River Solar project is sited on a 500-acre parcel in Fall River County, South Dakota. Both projects will begin construction in Q4 2021 and are scheduled to be operational in December 2022. When completed, the two solar plants will be among the largest in their respective states.

Both projects have long-term power purchase agreements in place with local investment-grade utilities: Montana Sun with Northwestern Energy and Fall River with Black Hills Power. Greenbacker acquired both projects from Broad Reach Power (BRP) as part of its strategy to own and operate large-scale utility solar plants.

“We’ve worked with Borrego on a number of distributed generation solar projects and consider them a valued EPC partner,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of Greenbacker. “These utility-scale projects mark the latest step in each companies’ gigawatt ambitions, and we look forward to bringing clean energy, and the jobs that come with it, to the emerging Montana and South Dakota solar markets.”