Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com • September 7, 2020 • Hartford Business Journal 13 finance mid- sized projects. A single solar farm that's a few megawatts in size may prom- ise a healthy investment return, but it won't draw the interest of insti- tutional capital, which is more focused on large grid-scale installations. "Private equity doesn't want to cut little checks," Silvestrini said. "I may have $30 million worth of awe- some deals, but they are not awe- some enough for a private equity group to put a team on it." It was a problem he dealt with early on at Greenskies, and solved it by bundling together enough long- term solar energy contracts with high-value clients like Walmart, Sam's Club, Target and Amazon. "The reason Greenskies was able to secure institutional capital is I had a wheelbarrow full of contracts," he said. "Without that, you're left with these small bespoke projects." While Energea perceives a way to profit from the financing death valley faced by renewable energy projects, Silvestrini said the firm also values the chance to offer regular people a way to help spread renewables around the world as part of an effort to address climate change. Silvestrini made a mint on his first com- pany, but he contends that it wouldn't be pos- sible to create similar explo- sive growth for a U.S.-focused solar startup today. Things have changed a lot in the in- dustry over the past dozen years. Equipment prices have fallen steeply, the players are more sophisticated, and incentives are generally headed downward. "The space is very advanced and complex now," he said. "Just the capital you need in legal fees to understand how this stuff works would blast through my $35,000 in about two days." However, there are other coun- tries to target. The Brazil boom There are renewable energy markets all over the world, but Brazil is by far the biggest initial focus for Energea. Despite its copious amounts of sunshine, the country's solar energy boom is just starting, following cuts in government funding that had lowered power bills for ratepayers, Reuters reported. President Jair Bolsonaro has since extended subsidies that make for a quick payback of just four years on a solar investment, drawing lots of Chinese solar sup- pliers, according to Reuters. "It's undoubt- edly a gold rush," Silvestrini said of Brazil's fledgling solar market. "It has the best economics mixed with the best policy to limit risk in a market with loads of solar irradiance." Energea has al- ready announced contracts with some marquee companies in Brazil, including Vivo Telecom- munications and a grocery retailer with 40 locations. The deal that wasn't for Greenskies Renewable Energy While Michael Silvestrin tries to make a name for himself glob- ally with his new solar energy finanning company Energea, he's best known for the startup he founded in Middletown — Green- skies Renewable Energy. And a little more than a year before that company was sold to California renewable energy investor Clean Focus Yield for a newly disclosed enterprise value of $165 million, there was an even bigger deal in play, as Silvestrini tells it. NRG Energy, a power company based in New Jersey and Texas, had made an "eye popping" offer to buy Greenskies: approxi- mately double what Clean Focus would eventually pay, he said. NRG's CEO at the time had been investing more in renewable en- ergy, but failed to produce the returns he'd targeted, and resigned in late 2015. The offer for Greenskies was suddenly dead. "I'll never forget it," Silvestrini said, recalling that he felt an offer so good would not come around again. "I felt that the market had changed; the winds can change in an instant in these types of things," he said. "We ended up selling for about half the value that NRG had offered, so I was right." Energea's co-founders Chris Sattler (left), Mike Silvestrini (right) with Antonio Pires (center), who leads engineering, procurement and construction for the company in Brazil. PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED OCTOBER 8, 2020 | 7 P.M. UNIVERSITY OF HARTFORD BARNEY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS CATALYSTS FOR INNOVATION F.I.R.M. Finance. Insurance. Risk. Manufacturing. 3 R D A N N UA L E X E C U T I V E L E A D E R S H I P O F T H E Y E A R AWA R D H O N O R I N G CHRISTOPHER J. SWIFT Chairman and CEO The Hartford Financial Services Group 10.8.20 10.8.20 10.8.20 10.8.20 10.8.20 10.8.20 10.8.20 10.8.20 10.8.20 F.I.R.M. GOES VIRTUAL Though we cannot gather in person for our 3rd Annual Executive Leadership of the Year Award, we have reimagined this exciting evening into a virtual experience you will not forget. Proceeds to benefi t Scholarships and Programming at the Barney School of Business, University of Hartford.Ž To register visit: hartford.edu/FIRM2020 For more information contact: Margaret Lawson at 860.558.5026 or Email: margaretlawson7@comcast.net Premier Sponsors

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