High Street Logistics Partners with Altus on Solar Power

High Street Logistics has announced a strategic partnership with Altus Power to deploy solar arrays at High Street’s 144 assets encompassing more than 18M SF across the US.

In addition to building-sited, locally generated solar power arrays on the rooftops of High Street’s logistics facilities, the partners also will install battery storage and electric-vehicle charging infrastructure across the portfolio.

The upgrades will enable High Street buildings will be integrated in Altus Carbon Dashboard, an Saas-platform that will monitor savings from each individual solar asset as well as measure carbon emitted across the portfolio, tracking ESG benchmarks, including GRESB standards.

In a statement, High Street CEO Bob Chagares said the company’s partnership with Altus Power will accelerate the achievement of High Street’s sustainability objectives. The firm has set a goal of achieving net zero by 2050.

In 2021, Connecticut-based Altus Power merged with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsored by CBRE, a deal valued at $1.58B. Launched in 2009, Altus said in 2022 earnings statement that the firm currently has installations in 24 states.

The deal with CBRE Acquisitions Holdings (CBAH) allowed Altus Power to become a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Altus received more than $636M in proceeds from the deal, which it deployed to expand its network of solar installations.

Altus structures its deals to permit the firm to sell the surplus power generated by its installations.

According to a report from the Solar Energy Industries Association, the US solar energy industry installed a record 6.1 gigawatts of solar power capacity in Q1 2023 as supply chain challenges abated and delayed solar installations moved forward. Another 16 GW of module manufacturing facilities are under construction, as of the end of the first quarter.

Due to funding of renewable energy projects in the Inflation Reduction Act, solar installations are expected to triple in the next five years, bringing total installed solar capacity to 370 GW by 2026.

In January, Altus acquired the solar assets of True Green Capital Management, a portfolio encompassing 220 megawatts, in an acquisition valued at $293M. The assets are located primarily in four states, California, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.

In December, 2020, KKR acquired a 9.7M SF industrial portfolio from High Street Logistics located in infill markets across the US.