DURHAM — Durham-based Leyline Renewable Energy LLC announced Wednesday its first fund, Windstar Fund I L.P., has raised $12.5 million to invest in renewable energy projects.

The funds will be invested in projects in early to mid-stage development.

Leyline

Leyline was founded by solar industry expert Erik Lensch in 2016. Eric Rubinstein, another industry veteran, joined in early 2018.

Leyline invests in pre-construction renewable energy projects to accelerate development and scale businesses. The company has already backed projects in North Carolina, including poultry and swine waste projects and two landfill gas projects.

Windstar Fund I is the first fund under the management of the Leyline team, and it will be used to provide loans to renewable energy project developers to fund engineering, permitting, interconnection and legal costs and payments to utilities to secure long-term agreements.

“We felt that the time was right for a fund like Windstar Fund I,” said Lensch. “The market for long-term financing of solar and biogas projects is strong as key drivers like falling prices for solar modules and greenhouse gas reduction policies have created a really good environment for getting good projects financed.”

The Leyline team has invested in approximately $5 million in development funding in the past 18 months.

“There is no shortage of investment capital available for long-term ownership of renewable energy projects these days,” said Lensch. “Our fund is helping to accelerate the development process and scale the developer’s business by providing them the financial bandwidth to do multiple deals simultaneously.”

This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism