Greenbacker delivers 2024 results

Key Takeaways

Amid challenging market conditions, including inflationary pressures and macro uncertainty, Greenbacker announces decrease in NAV.

Charles Wheeler retires as CEO; Dan de Boer assumes position of interim CEO; Robert Brennan appointed Chairman of the Board.

Company institutes additional cost saving measures, including 10% reduction in workforce; operating expenses expected to reduce by $12 million, or 20%, by 2026.

Board of Directors authorizes review of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.

Total operating revenue in 2024 increased by 16% year-over-year, to $210 million.

Operating fleet grew by 8%, with 22 new solar energy assets in operation representing 117 MW of additional power production capacity.

Annual power production increase of 23% driven by new solar assets combined with Company's milestone wind repowers.

Greenbacker's fleet of clean energy assets generated 2.7 billion kilowatt-hours of power, enough to power 250,000 US homes.

NEW YORK, April 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC ("Greenbacker," "GREC," or the "Company"), an energy transition-focused investment manager and independent power producer, has announced financial results for 2024, including year-over-year increases in annual revenue, operating capacity, and clean energy generation.¹

Market conditions, inflationary pressures, and re-underwriting process determined adjusted NAV

With the renewable energy sector at a critical juncture, during 2024 Greenbacker initiated a detailed, multi-quarter re-underwriting process prior to releasing its December 31, 2024 net asset value ("NAV"), in which the Company evaluated the expected future performance of the assets in its portfolio relative to their historical performance, while also taking into account the impact of current market conditions. As a result, GREC adjusted its aggregate NAV as of December 31, 2024 to $5.03 per share, a 35.5% decrease relative to the September 30, 2024 NAV of $7.81 per share.

Several factors contributed to the Company's NAV revision. Inflationary pressures, supply chain imbalances, and increasing insurance costs due to heightened climate risk contributed to a significant increase in operating costs. New clean energy generation projections from independent engineers based on recent industry data have provided additional insight, replacing earlier projections that had been obtained during a period with limited historical data available and diverged relative to actual production. Additionally, there continues to be uncertainty around potential changes to the Inflation Reduction Act and the threat of additional tariffs, both of which are impacting the near-term outlook for renewables.

These headwinds contributed to a challenging market environment and downward pressure in renewable energy asset pricing across the sector, which Greenbacker saw reflected through both market sale processes and a comprehensive asset-by asset-review.

At the project level, the Company continues to maintain financial stability, resulting in strong financial coverage ratios. Additionally, at the firm level, Greenbacker continues to maintain sufficient overall liquidity and receive ongoing support from its leading project financing partners.

Organizational restructuring executed to increase operational efficiencies

Greenbacker is announcing an organizational restructuring designed to streamline operations, reduce costs, and better position the Company to capitalize on future market opportunities and deliver value to shareholders.

As part of these changes, Charles Wheeler is retiring from his role as Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") and Chairman of the Greenbacker Board of Directors ("Board"), effective April 1, 2025. Chief Investment Officer and Head of Infrastructure Dan de Boer has been named interim CEO, effective April 1, 2025, and Director Robert Brennan has been appointed Chairman of the Board. The Greenbacker Board is considering both external and internal candidates for the role of a permanent CEO, which is expected to be confirmed no later than the end of Q2 2025. Wheeler will continue to serve as a member of the Board until the earlier of December 31, 2025 and the date on which a permanent replacement CEO has been appointed.

Wheeler, who is also one of Greenbacker's Co-Founders, spoke about his retirement and Greenbacker's future:

"14 years ago, with a group of like-minded individuals, I created Greenbacker with the goal of providing an investment vehicle that would enable ordinary American investors to participate in the renewable energy revolution. We've built Greenbacker into a business that is contributing to the transition to clean energy with hundreds of projects representing more than 3.6 gigawatts² of clean power generation capacity across the country.

Given current market conditions, changes are needed to best position Greenbacker to benefit from future market opportunities. I believe that Dan and Greenbacker's other leaders are the right team to guide us through this period while promoting our mission to empower a sustainable world."

De Boer has been with Greenbacker since 2023 and brings nearly two decades of experience in private equity and renewable energy investing, with prior leadership roles and positions at Allianz Capital Partners, Onyx Renewable Partners within Blackstone Energy Partners, and D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments.

In addition to restructuring the leadership team, the Company has progressed several cost savings initiatives, including a reduction of approximately 10% of its workforce, effective March 31, 2025. Greenbacker anticipates that the reduction in force and other operational efficiency efforts that began in mid-2024 will reduce overhead expenses by $12 million, or 20%, by 2026.

"We want to recognize the impact that this decision has on the careers and lives of the individuals at Greenbacker," said interim CEO, Dan de Boer. "We value our people and employed care and thoughtfulness as we attempted to balance our business requirements with any adverse impact to our team. While difficult, we believe that taking these measures will better position the firm to achieve long-term growth."

Additionally, the Company has identified opportunities to recycle capital within the portfolio by pursuing targeted non-core asset sales.

Annual total operating revenue topped $210 million, as Company continued to move assets into operation, contributing to year-over-year production increase of 23%

During 2024, Greenbacker increased total operating revenue³ by $29 million, or 16% year-over-year, to over $210 million.

Revenue from the sale of clean energy within Greenbacker's independent power producer ("IPP") business segment totaled $185.2 million in 2024, of which $155.0 million, or approximately 84%, came from the Company's long-term power purchase agreements ("PPAs").

For 2024, the net loss attributable to Greenbacker was $(242.3) million and Adjusted EBTIDA⁴ was $59.8 million, representing year-over-year changes of (205)% and 88%, respectively. The net loss was primarily the result of goodwill impairment charges, driven by a deterioration in macroeconomic conditions, as well as by depreciation, amortization, and other impairment charges in the period.

GREC increased its operating fleet size by 8% in 2024, which included placing 22 new solar energy assets into operation, accounting for 117 MW of additional power production.⁵ Additionally, the three wind assets strategically taken offline during portions of 2023 for repowering (i.e., retrofitting with new, more efficient equipment) had all returned to full operation producing power by early 2024.

In total, GREC's new operating solar assets and repowered wind portfolio drove an annual power production increase of 23% year-over-year,⁶ as the Company's fleet of clean energy assets generated 2.7 billion kilowatt-hours of power, enough to power over 250,000 US homes.⁷

GREC Operating Fleet

2024

2023

YoY Increase(total)

YoY Increase(%)

Clean power produced by solar assets (MWh)

1,504,580

1,256,183

248,397

20%

PPA revenue generated by solar assets ($M)

$ 87.8

$ 74.1

$ 13.6

18%

Clean power produced by wind assets (MWh)

1,236,431

978,236

258,195

26%

PPA revenue generated by wind assets ($M)

$ 65.8

$ 53.9

$ 11.9

22%

Total clean power generated by wind and solar assets (MWh)

2,741,011

2,234,419

506,592

23%

Total PPA operating revenue generated by wind and solar assets ($M)

$ 153.5

$ 128.0

$ 25.5

20%

Some figures may not add to stated totals due to rounding. Total clean power generated does not include power generated from biomass facility during 2023 and a portion of 2024, nor does it include assets in which the Company holds a preferred equity position.

Greenbacker secures nearly $1 billion financing for largest solar farm in New York State; completes $437 million financing for milestone wind repowers; and completes targeted non-core asset sale

Throughout 2024, Greenbacker made substantial progress on one of its core objectives: securing the capital necessary for the construction of its remaining pre-operating assets—and converting those projects into revenue-generating operating assets selling electricity. The Company also continued to receive robust support from its project finance partners, enabling it to reach significant milestones over the year.

In particular, Greenbacker secured nearly $1 billion in financing for the acquisition, construction and operation of its 674 MW Cider solar farm, the largest solar energy project in the state of New York to date. Cider also represents both Greenbacker's largest clean energy asset to date and the largest project financing in Company history (for which it was awarded Proximo Infrastructure's 2024 Solar Deal of the Year).

The construction financing represented $869 million from six of the world's top financial institutions, including ongoing Greenbacker partners MUFG, KeyBanc Capital Markets and Wells Fargo, as well as first-time partnerships with ING Capital LLC, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., New York Branch and Societe Generale. The Company also closed on an $81 million development loan with Voya Investment Management, its first partnership with the global investment manager.

Greenbacker additionally completed $437 million in financing for its wind repower portfolio. GREC was able to create additional value from existing assets by updating the turbine blades, hubs, and nacelles at three wind projects in its Midwestern fleet. To finance the repowering, the Company collaborated with lending partner Bayerische Landesbank to secure $81.5 million in construction bridge loan facilities, as well as long-term debt and tax equity financing from Huntington National Bank, via sales leasebacks totaling $355.7 million.

Also in 2024, Greenbacker completed the sale of its 54 MW Panther Creek pre-operating wind asset to an affiliated sustainable infrastructure-focused platform. The asset sale illustrated GREC's ability to develop large clean energy assets through late-stage development, a key component of its go-forward strategy, while its affiliate platform viewed the project as an opportunity to add a fully developed, high cash-yielding asset, in line with its investment mandate.

Long-term contracted cash flows with investment-grade counterparties

As of December 31, 2024, the Greenbacker operating fleet represented approximately 1.6 gigawatts of total clean power generation and storage capacity, spanning over 30 states, territories, districts and provinces. Due to its size and geographic footprint, GREC's operating fleet was listed among Solarplaza's 2025 Top 50 Operating Solar Portfolios in North America.

At the end of 2024, over 93% of Greenbacker's entire portfolio of operating and pre-operating clean energy projects were currently, or will be when completed, selling power to investment-grade counterparties, including utilities, municipalities, and corporations, under long-term power purchase agreements ("PPAs"). The portfolio had approximately 17.4 years of contracted cash flows associated with these PPAs.

Review of strategic alternatives

In addition to the other measures to reduce costs, operate more efficiently, and promote a path to better outcomes for its investors, the Greenbacker Board has authorized the Company to conduct a comprehensive review of strategic alternatives.

In regard to this review, the Board will consider a full range of operational and financial alternatives. A strategic review may result in Greenbacker securing additional capital to continue executing on its business plan: acquiring, owning, and operating a fleet of sustainable infrastructure assets that the Company efficiently manages to create both value and potential liquidity options for its shareholders.

"During 2024, Greenbacker closed on the Cider deal, completed our milestone wind repowers, and brought 117 MW of additional capacity online, showcasing how we can utilize additional capital while continuing to deliver on our core focus," de Boer said. "We believe current valuations in the renewables sector do not align with the supportive fundamentals driving the energy transition, leading to a compelling inflection point for renewable infrastructure investment. In short: we believe this is one of the better times to be investing in the energy transition."

Company's investments produce power, abate carbon emissions, conserve water, and support green jobs

As of December 31, 2024, Greenbacker's clean energy assets had cumulatively produced more than 11 million MWh of clean power since January 2016, abating over 7 million metric tons of carbon⁸ and saving nearly 8 billion gallons of water.⁹ Greenbacker's fleet of operating and pre-operating projects currently support, or are expected to support, thousands of green jobs.¹⁰

Additional information regarding the Company's impact can also be found in Greenbacker's latest impact report.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including those that relate to our search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer, our strategy and initiatives and our expectations for growth, within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. The potential risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results, performance or achievements to differ from the predicted results, performance or achievements include, among others, difficulties or delays we encounter in identifying a permanent Chief Executive Officer; our ability to execute on, and achieve the expected benefits from, our operational and strategic initiatives; our inability to realize the expected reduction in overhead expenses as a result of our reduction in force; volatility of the global financial markets and uncertain economic conditions, including changes in interest rates, inflationary pressures, recessionary concerns or global supply chain issues; public response to and changes in the local, state and federal regulatory framework affecting renewable energy projects; risks associated with changes in the fair value of our investments and the methods we use to estimate the fair value of our assets; and other risks and uncertainties discussed in our most recent Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K filed with or furnished to the SEC. Although Greenbacker believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. Greenbacker undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained herein to conform to actual results or changes in its expectations.

Non-GAAP Financial MeasuresIn addition to evaluating the Company's performance on a U.S. GAAP basis, the Company utilizes certain non-GAAP financial measures to analyze the operating performance of our segments as well as our consolidated business. Each of these measures should not be considered in isolation from or as superior to or as a substitute for other financial measures determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, such as net income (loss) or operating income (loss). The Company uses these non-GAAP financial measures to supplement its U.S. GAAP results in order to provide a more complete understanding of the factors and trends affecting its operations.

Adjusted EBITDA Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that the Company uses as a performance measure, as well as for internal planning purposes. We believe that Adjusted EBITDA is useful to management and investors in providing a measure of core financial performance adjusted to allow for comparisons of results of operations across reporting periods on a consistent basis, as it includes adjustments relating to items that are not indicative on the ongoing operating performance of the business.

Adjusted EBITDA is a performance measure used by management that is not calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation from or as superior to or as a substitute for net income (loss), operating income (loss) or any other measure of financial performance calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Additionally, our calculations of Adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies.

Funds From Operations (FFO)FFO is a non-GAAP financial measure that the Company uses as a performance measure to analyze net earnings from operations without the effects of certain non-recurring items that are not indicative of the ongoing operating performance of the business. FFO is calculated using Adjusted EBITDA less the impact of interest expense (excluding the non-cash component) and distributions to tax equity investors under the financing facilities associated with our IPP segment. 

The Company believes that the analysis and presentation of FFO will enhance our investor's understanding of the ongoing performance of our operating business. The Company considers FFO, in addition to other GAAP and non-GAAP measures, in assessing operating performance and as a proxy for growth in distribution coverage over the long term.

FFO should not be considered in isolation from or as a superior to or as a substitute for net income (loss), operating income (loss) or any other measure of financial performance calculated in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

General DisclosureThis information has been prepared solely for informational purposes and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, or to participate in any trading or investment strategy. The information presented herein may involve Greenbacker's views, estimates, assumptions, facts, and information from other sources that are believed to be accurate and reliable and are, as of the date this information is presented, subject to change without notice.

 

GREENBACKER RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANY LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS

(in thousands, except per share data)

 

 

December 31, 2024

 

December 31, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

Assets

 

 

 

 

Current assets:

 

 

 

 

Cash and cash equivalents

 

$

120,057

 

 

$

96,872

 

Restricted cash, current

 

 

38,403

 

 

 

85,235

 

Accounts receivable, net

 

 

27,103

 

 

 

23,310

 

Derivative assets, current

 

 

17,632

 

 

 

24,062

 

Other current assets

 

 

28,586

 

 

 

62,429

 

Total current assets

 

 

231,781

 

 

 

291,908

 

Noncurrent assets:

 

 

 

 

Restricted cash

 

 

3,128

 

 

 

5,568

 

Property, plant and equipment, net

 

 

2,232,486

 

 

 

2,133,877

 

Intangible assets, net

 

 

362,352

 

 

 

453,214

 

Goodwill

 

 

—

 

 

 

221,314

 

Investments, at fair value

 

 

74,136

 

 

 

94,878

 

Derivative assets

 

 

98,495

 

 

 

118,106

 

Other noncurrent assets

 

 

242,667

 

 

 

140,740

 

Total noncurrent assets

 

 

3,013,264

 

 

 

3,167,697

 

Total assets

 

$

3,245,045

 

 

$

3,459,605

 

Liabilities, Redeemable Noncontrolling Interests and Equity

 

 

 

 

Current liabilities:

 

 

 

 

Accounts payable and accrued expenses

 

$

69,464

 

 

$

79,288

 

Shareholder distributions payable

 

 

—

 

 

 

7,606

 

Contingent consideration, current

 

 

15,293

 

 

 

16,546

 

Current portion of long-term debt

 

 

88,901

 

 

 

82,855

 

Current portion of failed sale-leaseback financing and deferred ITC gain

 

 

45,868

 

 

 

69,436

 

Other current liabilities

 

 

8,767

 

 

 

7,997

 

Total current liabilities

 

 

228,293

 

 

 

263,728

 

Noncurrent liabilities:

 

 

 

 

Long-term debt, net of current portion

 

 

1,001,654

 

 

 

935,397

 

Failed sale-leaseback financing and deferred ITC gain, net of current portion

 

 

201,601

 

 

 

169,829

 

Contingent consideration, net of current portion

 

 

300

 

 

 

42,307

 

Deferred tax liabilities, net

 

 

35,316

 

 

 

58,696

 

Operating lease liabilities

 

 

196,911

 

 

 

108,406

 

Out-of-market contracts, net

 

 

180,640

 

 

 

194,785

 

Other noncurrent liabilities

 

 

59,261

 

 

 

53,492

 

Total noncurrent liabilities

 

 

1,675,683

 

 

 

1,562,912

 

Total liabilities

 

$

1,903,976

 

 

$

1,826,640

 

Redeemable noncontrolling interests

 

$

1,851

 

 

$

2,179

 

Redeemable common shares, par value, $0.001 per share, nil and 873 outstanding as of 2024 and 2023, respectively

 

 

—

 

 

 

1

 

Redeemable common shares, additional paid-in capital

 

 

—

 

 

 

7,245

 

Equity:

 

 

 

 

Preferred shares, par value, $0.001 per share, 50,000 authorized; none issued and outstanding

 

 

—

 

 

 

—

 

Common shares, par value, $0.001 per share, 350,000 authorized, 199,326 and 197,749 outstanding as of 2024 and 2023, respectively

 

 

199

 

 

 

198

 

Additional paid-in capital

 

 

1,773,758

 

 

 

1,770,060

 

Accumulated deficit

 

 

(584,733

)

 

 

(306,525

)

Accumulated other comprehensive income

 

 

34,937

 

 

 

45,932

 

Noncontrolling interests

 

 

115,057

 

 

 

113,875

 

Total equity

 

 

1,339,218

 

 

 

1,623,540

 

Total liabilities, redeemable noncontrolling interests and equity

 

$

3,245,045

 

 

$

3,459,605

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREENBACKER RENEWABLE ENERGY COMPANY LLC AND SUBSIDIARIES

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS

(in thousands, except per share data)

 

 

Year ended December 31,

 

 

 

2024

 

 

 

2023

 

Revenue

 

 

 

 

Energy revenue

 

$

185,225

 

 

$

159,301

 

Investment Management revenue

 

 

18,757

 

 

 

13,490

 

Other revenue

 

 

6,085

 

 

 

8,434

 

Contract amortization, net

 

 

(14,301