Business Wire

Aligned Climate Capital Secures Over $380 Million in Financing for 126 MW Community Solar Portfolio

Business Wire
  • Apterra Infrastructure Capital led the construction-to-permanent financing

  • Facility supports 20 community solar projects across Illinois and Maryland

  • Strong lender syndicate including BankUnited, Stifel, Amalgamated Bank, Farmer Mac, Bci, BTG Pactual, and Siemens

NEW YORK, October 15, 2026--U.S. community solar has passed 10 gigawatts of installed capacity, yet much of the sector's growth is constrained by a financing gap: individual projects are often too small to attract institutional infrastructure capital on their own. Aligned Climate Capital (Aligned) has closed approximately $387 million in construction-to-permanent financing for a 126-megawatt community solar portfolio that brings together 20 projects across Illinois and Maryland. Apterra Infrastructure Capital (Apterra), a leading infrastructure finance platform and affiliate of Apollo, led the facility, which finances each project's construction and converts to permanent debt as it reaches operation.

The portfolio comprises approximately 115 MWdc across eighteen sites in Illinois and 11 MWdc across two sites in Maryland, and is expected to generate around 225 million kilowatt-hours annually, enough to power roughly 31,500 homes.

"We're seeing an important shift in distributed energy," said Peter Davidson, CEO of Aligned Climate Capital. "Individual projects may be too small for traditional infrastructure investors. But when you bring those projects together into a larger portfolio, you can attract institutional financing that would otherwise be difficult to access. That helps move more projects from development into operation."

The Illinois projects are located in Ameren and ComEd utility territories, with a portion participating in the Illinois Shines Adjustable Block Program. The Maryland projects are located in Delmarva Power and Potomac Edison utility territories and participate in the state's Community Solar Energy Generating Systems program, which reserves at least 40% of project capacity for low- and moderate-income subscribers.

"Community solar is an important and fast-growing part of the distributed generation market, and this portfolio benefits from scale, contracted revenue, and experienced sponsorship," said Ralph Cho, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Apterra. "We are pleased to lead this facility for Aligned as it brings these projects online across Illinois and Maryland."

The facility is supported by a strong lender syndicate composed of BankUnited, Stifel, Banco de Crédito e Inversiones (Bci), Amalgamated Bank, Siemens, Farmer Mac, and BTG Pactual. BankUnited is serving as depository agent, and BankUnited and Stifel are the interest rate swap providers. Bci is the letter of credit provider.