Genie Solar Achieves Notice to Proceed with Construction of Its First Company-Owned, Community Solar Generation Project

Notice to proceed expected for a second project in early 2023

NEWARK, N.J., Dec. 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Genie Energy Ltd., (NYSE: GNE, GNEPRA), a leading retail energy and renewable energy solutions provider, provided an update on two company-owned community solar projects totaling 10 megawatts of generation capacity.

Genie Energy's Genie Solar subsidiary has obtained the notice to proceed (NTP) for its first company-owned project, a 4-megawatt community solar farm in Upstate New York. 

"This is a major milestone for our vertically-integrated solar strategy, and we're delighted to receive the NTP for our first company-owned community solar farm," said Michael Stein, CEO of Genie Energy. "The environmental benefit and the economics driving the development of community solar are compelling for the customers and the generators, and we expect to expand from this initial project to additional sites in the coming months."

Construction of the ground-mount project is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2023.  Once construction is completed, the start of generation will be contingent upon testing of the interconnection and final approval from the regional utility.

Genie Solar has also completed a Coordinated Electric System Interconnection Review (CESIR) for a second company-owned community solar project in upstate New York and expects to achieve the NTP in early 2023. This 6-megawatt community solar project is also slated for construction in 2023.

Stein added, "Community solar plays to Genie's strengths as an integrated solar provider. In our first two projects, we not only obtained control of the sites and are overseeing permitting, we are also financing and managing the construction of the projects.  We'll utilize our own designed and manufactured solar panels and our retail arm will identify, enroll and manage the projects' customers.

"This vertically-integrated approach enables us to capture significantly more of each project's realizable economics while delivering a superior value to our customers," Stein concluded.

In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which we use the words "believe," "anticipate," "expect," "plan," "intend," "estimate, "target" and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  While these forward-looking statements represent our current judgment of what may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important factors, including, but not limited to, those described in our most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (under the headings "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations"), which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K.  We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update the forward-looking statements in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. 

Genie Energy Ltd., (NYSE: GNE, GNEPRA) is a retail energy and renewable energy solutions provider. The Genie Retail Energy division supplies electricity, including electricity from renewable resources, and natural gas to residential and small business customers in the United States. The Genie Renewables division is a vertically-integrated provider of commercial, community and utility-scale solar energy solutions. For more information, visit Genie.com.

SOURCE Genie Energy Ltd.