SolaREIT expands land financing to substations and transmission corridors for US solar, storage

SolaREIT announced this week that it has expanded its US financing offering for solar and energy storage developers to include land for substations and transmission corridors, extending its real estate capital model beyond generation sites to cover interconnection-related infrastructure. The company said the move is aimed at helping developers access capital tied up in associated land that is required to bring projects to the grid.

The expansion of offerings reflects practical financing issues, as land for substations, switchyards, and transmission access remains part of project execution in a myriad of ways, but it has typically not been treated as a distinct source of development capital. The approach from SolaREIT is now to offer to finance that real estate separately, giving developers more options to support project spend without relying solely on conventional project-level debt or equity.

SolaREIT generally offers developers several structures, including land purchases, lease purchases, and land loans, depending on how the project site and associated land are held.Interconnection-related land in US solar and storage and generation development is critical, and as substations and transmission corridors become a larger part of project execution, earlier capital access can become important.

“Developers are navigating one of the most challenging capital environments in the history of the energy industry, with clean energy lending growth slowing from 22% to just 5.8% year over year,” said Laura Pagliarulo, CEO of SolaREIT, noting that the expanded financing solutions can unlock capital and keep projects moving forward.

SolaREIT said it has now provided real estate financing for more than 3 GW of clean energy projects representing more than $5 billion in project value. That builds on its earlier push into battery storage financing, where SolaREIT said in July 2025 that it had deployed more than $125 million in capital for US battery storage projects, supporting more than 1,400 MWac of capacity. Previously, pv magazine USA reported support for more than 1.6 GWac of storage projects since the company entered the segment in early 2024.

The company also expanded its revolving credit facility to $80 million in January, as it scaled its own capital base to meet demand.