{"id":29148,"date":"2024-02-19T23:58:20","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T06:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-based-king-energy-joins-forces-with-cleargen-to-expand-commercial-solar-projects\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T00:49:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:49:53","slug":"durango-based-king-energy-joins-forces-with-cleargen-to-expand-commercial-solar-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-based-king-energy-joins-forces-with-cleargen-to-expand-commercial-solar-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango-based King Energy joins forces with ClearGen to expand commercial solar projects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"People
People check out the Main Mall in downtown Durango on Tuesday. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

King Energy, a Durango company that delivers solar solutions to large, multi-tenant properties, has received $150 million to help fund commercial projects.<\/p>\n

The funding comes by way of ClearGen LLC, a capital investment firm based out of Charlotte, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

ClearGen was formed in 2020 by asset management firm Blackstone to provide flexible capital to developers in the clean energy sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt ClearGen, we are more than financiers; we are catalysts for growth,\u201d said ClearGen CEO Rob Howard in a news release. \u201cEmpowering partners with efficient capital to source new customers and aggressively grow their business is our goal. King Energy\u2019s ability to overcome historical challenges in multi-tenant assets showcases their market leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n

While based in Durango, King Energy services multi-tenant commercial buildings in California, New Jersey and Maryland. The company manages more than 125 solar programs, serving more than 10 million square feet of tenant space.<\/p>\n

Typically, these are shopping centers, medical plazas and business parks.<\/p>\n

More recently, the company has been interested in projects in the Denver-metro area but has not yet broken into the Durango market.<\/p>\n

That is because La Plata Electric Association does not have a tariff that allows King Energy to install solar panels and then sell energy in a multi-tenant building, said King Energy CEO John Witchel.<\/p>\n

Witchel, who is a member of the LPEA Board of Directors, said the main reason for this has been a lack of demand \u2013 but that may be changing.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolar energy provided two main benefits,\u201d Witchel said. \u201cParticularly when used with batteries, it can provide a significantly lower cost of energy. And they can provide some protection against blackouts.\u201d<\/p>\n

King Energy\u2019s projects eliminate the need for upfront funding from property owners or tenants, according to a news release from the company. Now, with the help of ClearGen\u2019s funding, the company can speed up growth by constructing more panels on properties throughout the United States.<\/p>\n

Utilizing King Energy\u2019s billing software, OneBill, the benefit of solar energy is provided to tenants at what King Energy says is a significant cost savings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sell our energy at 10% below what they would have paid if they had pulled the energy off the grid,\u201d Witchel said.<\/p>\n

King\u2019s strategy is to go to property owners and lease the roof from owners. Then, King sells the energy to the building tenants at below retail cost.<\/p>\n

This process doesn\u2019t require the landlord to spend money on the solar project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pay the landlord for access to their roof, so it\u2019s win-win-win (situation),\u201d Witchel said. \u201cThe landlord makes some additional rent income, the tenants receive a lower cost of energy and we\u2019re able to build a system using the money that we raised from ClearGen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The model is supposed to generate a new revenue stream for property owners, which increases long-term property value but also delivers cost savings.<\/p>\n

tbrown@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$150 million will be going toward company\u2019s rooftop solar plans nationwide<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29149,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[489,431,1098,28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-29148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-alternative-energy","tag-business-general","tag-energy","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29148"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29148\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80646,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29148\/revisions\/80646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29148"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=29148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}