Aligned Climate Capital and Planted Solar Advance Innovative Community Solar Project

Following a year of community solar growth in Illinois, Aligned Climate Capital (Aligned) has acquired Armoracia, a 7.3 MW DC community solar project in Collinsville Township, IL., through its Aligned Solar Partners (ASP) strategy. The project will deploy Planted's innovative power deployment platform across a 16-acre site. Armoracia will serve subscribers through the Illinois Adjustable Block Program on the Ameren Illinois grid and is expected to reach commercial operation later this year. The project combines Aligned’s execution and operations expertise with Planted’s platform, demonstrating how integrated solar deployment can work at scale in community solar.

“This acquisition matters because it helps establish Planted’s platform as financeable infrastructure at commercial scale. Their platform is built for land-efficient deployment, making solar work on sites where conventional approaches would require significantly more land,” said Peter Davidson, CEO of Aligned Climate Capital. “Until now, developers have had a limited ability to commit a real pipeline to Planted projects without an institutional buyer prepared to finance construction and own the assets. Aligned’s acquisition of Armoracia helps solve that problem and creates a financing precedent for the technology at commercial scale.”

Currently under construction, the 16-acre ground-mount project combines community solar generation with continued productive land use through Planted’s high-density terrain-following arrays, which require no grading and leave more room for agricultural activities, pollinator habitat and other compatible uses within and around the array. Planted combines powerful software, terrain-following arrays, and field automation into a single system to deploy faster on the sites that constrain most community solar development: irregular parcels, moderate slopes, and limited acreage.

"Community solar runs on tight land budgets and execution certainty," said Eric Brown, CEO of Planted. "Armoracia puts 7.3 MW on 16 acres and leaves the land usable long after the array's life. That's the kind of outcome Aligned's holistic approach makes available to the broader community solar market."

Aligned Solar Partners acquires distributed solar and energy storage projects from development partners across the U.S., finances their build-out, and manages the assets over time. The strategy focuses on middle-market solar projects that are larger than typical rooftop systems but smaller than utility-scale developments. These projects can serve local energy demand through community solar, commercial and industrial, net metering, or other state-based programs.

Armoracia establishes a financing structure for Planted projects that developers can now point to. Community solar developers interested in bringing Planted into their pipeline can learn more at plantedsolar.com or reach out directly to discuss site compatibility.

Planted Solar | plantedsolar.com

Aligned Climate Capital | https://alignedclimatecapital.com/