CPV Begins Operations at Maryland’s Largest Solar Project

SILVER SPRING, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 22, 2025--

Today, Competitive Power Ventures’ (CPV) affiliate CPV Renewable Power and its strategic investment partner Harrison Street Asset Management (HSAM) announced the start of commercial operations at CPV Backbone Solar, a 160-megawatt (MW) solar project located in Garrett County, Maryland. In parallel, CPV secured its third solar tax equity financing with U.S. Bank. Marathon Capital served as advisor, emphasizing the project’s quality and CPV’s leading role in developing utility-scale renewable projects.

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Situated on a reclaimed, decommissioned coal mine, the 324,000 panels at CPV Backbone Solar are designed to produce enough energy to power 30,000 households, repurposing the land and providing needed generation to the state.

“CPV Backbone Solar exemplifies our mission to support a responsible energy transition,” said Sherman Knight, CEO of CPV. “By transforming exhausted coal mine land into a productive solar facility, we’re demonstrating how brownfield redevelopment, innovative engineering, and strategic partnerships can meet complex project challenges and deliver new power generation in Maryland.”

“At CPV, we look for ways to invest in energy communities where our projects can have the greatest impact. Garrett County provided the necessary criteria for us to bring CPV Backbone Solar to Western Maryland,” said Mike Resca, EVP of CPV Renewable Power. “This project adds significant tax revenue to Garrett County, and we look forward to being partners for years to come.”

“CPV Backbone Solar demonstrates the role utility-scale renewable infrastructure can play in meeting growing power demand,” said Carolyn Arida, Senior Managing Director of Infrastructure and Co-Portfolio Manager at Harrison Street Asset Management. “We value our partnership with CPV and look forward to continued collaboration as we expand our portfolio of contracted renewable projects nationwide.”

CPV Backbone Solar was constructed by Vanguard Energy Partners, a leading solar engineering, procurement, construction firm.

“We appreciate the continued partnership with CPV and the opportunity to bring the CPV Backbone Solar project to completion. This was a complex site, and our teams stayed focused, resilient, and committed from start to finish to safely deliver a high-quality project,” said Geoffrey Fairclough, President of Vanguard Energy Partners.

Supporting Maryland’s Clean Energy Goals & Energy Communities

“In a time where we are pushing for economic development across our state and job creation, it is great to see the CPV Backbone Solar project come online,” said Senator Michael McKay. “We look forward to CPV’s continued investment in our communities.”

“I’m excited to see the CPV solar project come online. Not only does it return previously mined land to use and add to the County’s tax base, it brings a new source of power to the grid at a time when demand for electricity is growing,” said Delegate Jim Hinebaugh, Jr.

CPV Backbone Solar began development in 2020. Throughout the process, CPV has worked to build strong, lasting relationships with local stakeholders to make a positive impact in Garrett County.

“We’re happy to see this reach commercial operations,” said Board Chairman of Garrett County, Paul Edwards. “By bringing this project to Garrett County, CPV is helping to preserve our region’s natural beauty while creating new economic value for our residents. It’s a win-win for us and the environment.”

The project also includes investments to enhance community and environmental stewardship, including a $100,000 contribution over a four-year period to the Deep Creek Watershed Foundation to help strengthen long-term vitality of the region’s natural resource.

"CPV's generosity has been very helpful in supporting our projects to maintain and protect the Deep Creek Watershed,” said Bob Hoffmann, President of the Deep Creek Watershed Foundation. “We at the Foundation appreciate the company's commitment to environmental and local stewardship."

CPV Backbone Solar joins four operating wind and solar projects in the company’s renewable portfolio alongside a development pipeline of 4.8 GW. A planned second phase has started construction and is projected to expand the facility’s total installed capacity to 175 MW.

About CPV

CPV Group LP, a partnership majority owned by OPC Energy Ltd., has over 25 years of unprecedented success in the development and operation of highly efficient and low emitting electric generation and renewable projects in the United States. CPV is focused on applying its development, financial and project management expertise to advance the next generation of technologies. After bringing on 6.8 GW of natural gas, wind, and solar generation since 2010 and with a current pipeline of over 10 GW of renewable and dispatchable generation projects, including utility-scale carbon capture, CPV is well positioned to help drive the nation’s decarbonization goals forward. For more information: please visit www.cpv.com and follow CPV onLinkedIn.

About OPC Energy

OPC Energy Ltd. (OPCE:Tel Aviv) is an energy company leading the Energy Transition revolution in Israel and the United States and provides electricity in an efficient, reliable and environmentally friendly manner while combining solar energy, wind and natural gas with high efficiency. In Israel, OPC is the first and leading private electricity producer, offering its customers an integrated energy solution that includes the supply of all energy needs through the company’s production sites and in the customer’s yard using natural gas and solar energy. In the U.S., the company operates through the CPV Group, which supplies electricity using efficient natural gas and wind energy, and also builds and develops Powerhouse using natural gas, natural gas with reduced emissions, as well as solar and wind energy. For more information: please visitwww.opc-energy.com/en

About Harrison Street Asset Management

Harrison Street Asset Management is a leading global alternative investment management firm with over $108 billion in assets under management through highly differentiated assets across real estate, infrastructure, and credit strategies. Headquartered in Chicago, Toronto and London with over 600 employees in offices across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the firm offers innovative solutions across a variety of closed-end, open-end and specialized vehicles on behalf of 1,200+ institutional and over 300+ Registered Investment Advisors. 1

1 HSAM data and descriptions of HSAM’s business are generally comprised of the aggregated data and business activities of investment advisors that are owned in whole or in part by HSAM. Assets under management (“AUM”) reflects the AUM for the investment advisory and asset management clients of such investment advisors and is inclusive of the regulatory AUM of such investment advisors that is reported in their respective Form ADVs.

CPV Backbone Solar repurposes former coal mine land. Photo courtesy of Competitive Power Ventures

The leaders of Denmark and Greenland insisted Monday that the United States won't take over Greenland and demanded respect for their territorial integrity after President Donald Trump ‍​announced ​the appointment of a ‌special envoy to the semi-autonomous territory.

Trump's announcement on Sunday that Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry would be the envoy prompted a new flare-up of tensions over Washington's interest in the vast territory of Denmark, a NATO ally. Denmark's foreign minister told Danish broadcasters that he would summon the U.S. ambassador to his ministry.

”We have said it before. Now, we say it again. National borders and the sovereignty of states are rooted in international law," Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, said in a joint statement. “They are fundamental principles. You cannot annex another country. Not even with an argument about international security.”

“Greenland belongs to the Greenlanders and the U.S. shall not take over Greenland,” they added in the statement emailed by Frederiksen's office. "We expect respect for our joint territorial integrity.”

Trump called repeatedly during his presidential transition and the early months of his second term for U.S. jurisdiction over Greenland, and has not ruled out military force to take control of the mineral-rich, strategically located Arctic island. In March, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote U.S. military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of under-investing there.

The issue gradually drifted out of the headlines, but in August, Danish officials summoned the top U.S. diplomat in Copenhagen following a report that at least three people with connections to Trump had carried out covert influence operations in Greenland.

On Sunday, Trump announced Landry's appointment, saying on social media that “Jeff understands how essential Greenland is to our National Security, and will strongly advance our Country’s Interests for the Safety, Security, and Survival of our Allies, and indeed, the World.”

Landry wrote in a post on social media that “it’s an honor to serve you in this volunteer position to make Greenland a part of the U.S.”

Danish broadcasters TV2 and DR reported that in comments from the Faroe Islands later Monday, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said he summon the U.S. ambassador in Copenhagen, Kenneth Howery, for a meeting.

Greenland's prime minister wrote in a separate statement that Greenland had again woken up to a new announcement from the U.S. president, and that “it may sound significant. But it changes nothing for us here at home.”

Nielsen noted that Greenland has its own democracy and said that “we are happy to cooperate with other countries, including the United States, but this must always take place with respect for us and for our values and wishes.”

Earlier this month, the Danish Defense Intelligence Service said in an annual report that the U.S. is using its economic power to “assert its will” and threaten military force against friend and foe alike.

Denmark is a member of the European Union as well as NATO.

Anouar El Anouni, a spokesperson for the EU's executive Commission, told reporters in Brussels on Monday that it wasn't for him to comment on U.S. decisions. But he underlined the bloc's position that "preserving the territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark, its sovereignty and the inviolability of its borders is essential for the European Union.”

FILE - Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry speaks to reporters at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, La., Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

FILE - Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, right, and Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen smile during their meeting at Marienborg in Kongens Lyngby, Denmark, on April 27, 2025. (Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix via AP, File)

FILE - Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the U.S. military's Pituffik Space Base in Greenland, Friday, March 28, 2025. (Jim Watson/Pool via AP, File)

FILE - Denmark's Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen speaks during a Security Council meeting at the United Nations headquarters, Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2025, at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)