In 2020, 8minute announced power purchase agreements with Monterey Bay Community Power Authority (MBCP) and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) for a 250 MWdc / 200 MWac Aratina Solar Center that includes 150 MWh of energy storage.As a first-generation student, Alvina Zhan knew that getting accepted to a top-tier university was only the first of her challenges. The company’s collection includes more than 18 GW of solar and 24 GWh of storage under development, according to its website. In the following years, 8minute expanded to have one of the largest project pipelines in the country, including more than 50 utility-scale projects in California, Texas and the Southwest. “8minute will vigorously defend itself should the UC Regents continue to pursue these baseless and frivolous claims,” the spokesperson added.īuttgenbach founded 8minute with a business partner in 2009. In fact, Brown Rudnick concluded that there is evidence of impropriety by UC Regents’ investment agent in the transaction, which was ultimately found by the Arbitrator as well.” “After a comprehensive review comprised of over three thousand man hours, Brown Rudnick and its consultants collectively concluded that the UC Regents’ claims against 8minute and Dr. A company spokesperson sent us a statement that reads in part: In the declaration, 8minute provided the court with the Interim Award recently issued in the Arbitration.”Ĩminute Solar told Renewable Energy World the company additionally hired a private arbiter to conduct a review of the fraud accusations. “Since receiving the decision of the Arbitrator, 8minute has filed a supplemental declaration in support of its motion to compel arbitration of the UC Regents’ baseless and frivolous lawsuit. Buttgenbach in their entirety and agrees that the Class B investors, including UC Regents, have committed wrongdoing,” an 8minute spokesperson told us in a statement. “8minute is pleased the Arbitrator has denied the baseless claims against us and Dr. The hearing led to a ruling in favor of Buttgenbach and 8minute. Representatives for Buttgenbach and 8minute Solar Energy called the regents’ allegations “baseless and frivolous.” In a motion filed January 13, lawyers for Buttgenbach and 8minute said the allegations are already the subject of an arbitration hearing initiated by co-investors in the solar projects. University regents are seeking nearly $1.22 billion in damages. “This amount was entirely unsupported by the prior representations, financial projections, models, and budget that Buttgenbach submitted to induce the University to approve its $150 million investment,” court documents say. The lawsuit claims that in August 2021 Buttgenbach demanded more than $4.1 billion, of which the university system’s share would be $1.53 billion, and refused to validate this amount to investors. Instead, he allegedly “sought to enrich himself at the expense of his investors, and ultimately at the expense of over 250,000 California public pensioners.”Īccording to the complaint, Buttgenbach “engineered a financial crisis” after receiving the $150 million investment, delaying project sales, accelerating the development process to increase liquidity needs and misappropriating investors’ cash for personal projects. The lawsuit alleged that Buttgenbach “never intended to execute on the ‘fully funded’” business plan. The University approved a $150 million investment. Buttgenbach allegedly touted 8minute’s high success rates on projects that had solar power purchase agreements in place with customers. The suit says Buttgenbach presented a business plan containing a fixed budget, restrictions on the use of cash, financial projections and project sales timelines. At the time, the university system was considering renewable energy investments and was looking for opportunities to help fund pension payments and provide other financial support to the University of California system. According to the complaint, Buttgenbach told university regents he had a pipeline of solar development projects and had signed contracts with companies that wanted to buy the power generated and operate the projects after completion.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |