Agreement represents the largest project portfolio in the near-term pipeline with a potential value of US$5.6 million.
Vancouver, Canada, & Knoxville, Tennessee, October 16, 2019 – Solar Alliance Energy Inc. (‘Solar Alliance’ or the ‘Company’) (TSX-V: SOLR, OTC: SAENF) is pleased to announce it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) with Empire Cinemas Ltd. (“Empire Cinemas”), a prominent movie theatre chain in the United Kingdom, for the development of up to 14 solar projects with an approximate capacity of 2.8 megawatts (“MW”). Empire Cinemas is the leading independently-owned cinema chain in the U.K. with 14 locations and 131 screens including IMPACT® and IMAX® screens. Solar Alliance and Empire Cinemas will focus their initial efforts on Empire Birmingham Great Park. Each theatre in the Empire Cinemas chain has the rooftop capacity to support approximately 200 kilowatts (“kW”) of solar. Individual project economics will be determined when a construction contract is signed, but similar sized systems typically have an approximate capital cost of US$400,000. Across fourteen potential projects, the Empire Cinemas agreement represents the largest near-term project portfolio in the Company’s pipeline.
“Empire Cinemas is a leader in the global movie theatre business and Solar Alliance is proud to be working with them to reduce their carbon footprint and reduce their operating costs,” said Solar Alliance CEO Myke Clark. “Combining the large electricity demands of movie theatres with clean, renewable solar power makes sense on several fronts. For Solar Alliance, this is an opportunity to work with a top tier company in a new market where solar is expanding rapidly. It also marks our first large scale solar projects in the United Kingdom, a country we believe has tremendous potential for growth in solar. Our project management approach to projects in new jurisdictions allows us to leverage our extensive solar experience and deliver a quality project to customers in almost any market.”
“Empire Cinemas is committed to reducing our carbon footprint and reducing our operating costs by installing solar on our theatres,” said Empire Cinemas CEO Justin Ribbons. “As the leading independently-owned cinema chain in the U.K. Empire Cinemas is proud to offer our customers an exceptional moviegoing experience. Installing solar at our cinemas will establish Empire as an industry leader in sustainability and that is something we are extremely proud of.”
Under the terms of the MOU, Solar Alliance and Empire Cinemas will define the goals of each project, complete site design and financial modeling and negotiate a Project Development Agreement for the construction of each individual project. Solar Alliance utilizes a project management structure that allows the Company to assess feasibility, carry out project design and complete engineering from its operations centre in Knoxville, Tennessee. This structure allows Solar Alliance to expand its project development reach into any global jurisdiction that makes sense for solar development. Beyond the Company’s operations in the U.S. Southeast, Solar Alliance is also assessing opportunities in other areas of the U.S. and in Canada. Profit attributable to Solar Alliance will vary by project depending on the type of contract signed for each Empire Cinemas theatre. Empire Cinemas is controlled by Tom Anderson, who is a controlling shareholder of the Company.
Myke Clark, CEO
About Solar Alliance Energy Inc. (www.solaralliance.com)
Solar Alliance is an energy solutions provider focused on residential, commercial and industrial solar installations. The Company operates in California, Tennessee, North/South Carolina and Kentucky and has an expanding pipeline of solar projects. Since it was founded in 2003, the Company has developed wind and solar projects that provide enough electricity to power 150,000 homes. Our passion is improving life through ingenuity, simplicity and freedom of choice. Solar Alliance reduces or eliminates customers’ vulnerability to rising energy costs, offers an environmentally-friendly source of electricity generation, and provides affordable, turnkey clean energy solutions.
Statements in this news release, other than purely historical information, including statements relating to the Company’s future plans and objectives or expected results, constitute Forward-looking statements. The words “would”, “will”, “expected” and “estimated” or other similar words and phrases are intended to identify forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company’s actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different than those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: uncertainties related to the ability to raise sufficient capital, changes in economic conditions or financial markets, litigation, legislative or other judicial, regulatory and political competitive developments and technological or operational difficulties. Consequently, actual results may vary materially from those described in the forward-looking statements.
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