FARGO — Doug Burgum is about to enter a crowded field of candidates vying for the Republican presidential nomination as an unknown figure on the national political stage.

But one early job on Burgum’s resume could help the dark-horse candidate stand out: chimney sweep.

While attending North Dakota State University, Burgum hired himself out as a chimney sweep. The unusual occupation was featured in the student newspaper, with a photo of Burgum, in top hat and tuxedo on a snowy roof, and was picked up by a wire service.

The admissions office at Stanford University saw the article — and Burgum was admitted to its master’s of business administration program.

There, he met Steve Ballmer, who would go on to become CEO of Microsoft and an influential business adviser for Burgum.

After a stint as a consultant at McKinsey & Co., Burgum mortgaged a quarter section of farmland homesteaded by his grandfather to invest $250,000 in a fledgling business software firm called Great Plains Software in 1983.

Burgum, having bet a good part of his inheritance, was unnerved to learn that the business software industry then in its infancy was crowded with competitors, but was able to distinguish his firm with top-notch customer service, a lesson learned from his family’s grain elevator business in Arthur.

The willingness to take a big risk — moderated by working assiduously to improve his odds of success — would prove to be an attribute that would help define Burgum’s rise in business and his later career as a politician.

“Betting the farm,” as Burgum later would describe his source of startup capital, would prove to be a good wager. When Great Plains broke ground at its south Fargo campus, Burgum harnessed a horse-drawn plow to mark the occasion.

Doug Burgum, center, is pictured in 1992 at Great Plains Software.

Dave Wallis/The Forum

In 2001, less than two decades after Burgum tied his future to Great Plains, with Ballmer at its helm, Microsoft bought Great Plains for $1.1 billion. Burgum stayed on as a Microsoft senior vice president until 2007, then turned his focus to serving as an investor and director on the corporate boards of early-stage software companies.

Freed of the responsibilities of running a company, Burgum also took his business chops in a new direction, real-estate development, which would allow him to indulge his interest in architecture.

He had formed a company, Kilbourne Group, named after his mother’s maiden surname. When Burgum was a boy, his mother took him on walks through downtown Fargo, pointing to notable buildings and telling him their background — a history lesson that helped to inspire what would become a major private downtown renewal project.

Kilbourne Group bought and renovated many distinctive downtown landmarks, including the Black Building, and built the 23-story RDO tower.

It became Fargo’s tallest building, although deliberately shorter than the skyscraping state Capitol, striking a note that was audacious and restrained at the same time.

Doug Burgum talks in 2013 about the restoration process of the Loretta Building overlooking downtown Fargo.

David Samson / The Forum

One of the buildings Kilbourne Group acquired and renovated, the former St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, became the Sanctuary Event Center, where on Wednesday, June 7, Burgum will take the stage to announce his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president.

As a real estate developer, Burgum preached the virtues of dense, downtown development as a way to enliven communities, prevent urban sprawl and save money by avoiding the need to extend expensive public infrastructure and services to the city’s fringe.

Later, as governor, he would promote the same themes through his Main Street initiative, saying that communities must offer attractive amenities to attract workers.

Burgum has made philanthropic contributions, including his family’s support of the Plains Art Museum and his donation of the former Northern School Supply building to his alma mater, NDSU, which became Renaissance Hall, which houses the university’s visual arts department and much of its architecture department.

Although a campaign contributor, Burgum was never visibly active in politics until he entered the 2016 governor’s race after Jack Dalrymple announced that he wouldn’t seek a second term, leaving an open seat.

Fargo entrepreneur and philanthropist Doug Burgum, third from right, meets with the press following his announcement for North Dakota’s gubernatorial race on Jan. 14, 2016, in Fargo.

Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor

But a major obstacle stood in his way: Wayne Stenehjem, who had served more than 20 years as attorney general and was the presumptive Republican nominee.

Burgum entered the race trailing by almost 50 points. He sought the endorsement at the party convention, not expecting to win, he said, and finished third.

During the convention, Burgum played up to his outsider image by lecturing the delegates, many of them state legislators, whom he criticized for allowing state government spending to balloon unsustainably on their watch.

His strategy all along was to win the GOP primary, and he made a point of visiting every community in the state with at least 1,000 people, often talking to very small gatherings, especially at first, and filling notebooks with ideas from his encounters with voters.

North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, left, and Fargo businessman Doug Burgum shake hands at a gubernatorial debate in 2016.

Rick Abbott / The Forum

Burgum roared back from his drubbing at the convention with a convincing victory over Stenehjem, taking 60% of the vote in the primary — and cruising on to beat his Democratic rival by capturing more than 76% in the general election.

Some of Burgum’s famous friends from his time at Microsoft were among his prominent financial supporters during his first campaign for governor. Microsoft founder Bill Gates contributed $107,000 and Satya Nadella, who succeeded Ballmer as Microsoft CEO and who had worked under Burgum at Microsoft’s Fargo campus for 5½ years, donated $10,000.

During the campaign, Burgum ran as an entrepreneur and businessman, with a pitch that he was the right person to apply his tech savvy to reinvent state government through greater efficiency, and to help diversify the economy, too reliant on energy and farm commodities subject to whipsawing price swings.

Once in office, Burgum sometimes clashed with the Republican-dominated Legislature. Although he pledged party unity after winning the divisive primary contest with Stenehjem, Burgum didn’t shy away from tangling with those in his own party.

Burgum showed himself willing to dip into his personal fortune to fund a political group that worked to defeat fellow Republicans who had resisted his initiatives, most prominently former Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, who had been the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, who was at odds with some of Burgum’s spending priorities.

During the 2022 election cycle, records showed Burgum gave at least $935,000 to the Dakota Leadership PAC, which ran an advertising blitz against Delzer, who lost the GOP primary endorsement. Burgum spent much more in 2020, bankrolling the group’s ad campaign with contributions of more than $3.2 million.

Burgum’s internecine quarrels rankled some of his fellow Republicans, some of whom were legislators who were in a position to make their displeasure known, but Burgum didn’t alter course.

As governor, Burgum has championed energy policy. Unusual for a Republican, he set a goal of using innovation and incentives to achieve carbon neutrality in North Dakota by 2030, exploiting North Dakota’s policy and geological advantages in storing carbon dioxide deep underground.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum delivers his annual State of the State address on Jan. 3, 2023.

Jeremy Turley / Forum News Service

He boasted that as of 2021 companies had responded by pouring $25 billion of investments into energy initiatives in the state.

In contrast to many of his fellow Republican governors, Burgum’s response to the public health threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic included support for vaccination and, in the early days of the pandemic, targeted business shutdowns and a mask mandate as measures to prevent hospitals from being overrun with cases.

Chafing at the state interventions, the Republican-dominated Legislature responded in 2021 by passing a law allowing legislators to call a special session, with the power to “terminate, extend, or modify” a state of disaster or emergency declared by a governor.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum receives a first dose of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine at the Bismarck Event Center on March 9, 2021.

Jeremy Turley / Forum News Service

Burgum’s drive for efficiencies in state government draws upon his background in technology and business.

He sounds like the McKinsey consultant he once was when he makes the case for better cash management of state funds, and he sounds like a former software executive when he rhapsodizes about the need for information technology upgrades that are more consumer friendly.

Burgum has never emphasized socially conservative positions and has generally refrained from joining the “culture war” debates that animate many in a party dominated by Donald Trump. In 2020, Burgum said the state Republican Party’s position on LGBTQ issues was “divisive and divisional.”

Still, in the recently completed legislative session, Burgum signed a near-total abortion ban bill as well as several laws restricting transgender rights. Earlier, in 2021, he signed a law banning the teaching of critical race theory in North Dakota public schools.

North Dakota leaders shouldn’t forget that the state is in constant competition for capital and for talent — skilled workers — and be seen as welcoming both, he has said.

Burgum has twice been endorsed by Trump, and has endorsed the former president he now is challenging for the nomination. He has said he would vote for Trump if he is the Republican nominee in 2024, a choice he regards as preferable to President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee.

Gov. Doug Burgum talks about his vision for North Dakota on April 19, 2018, while meeting with The Forum’s Editorial Board.

David Samson / The Forum

In seeking the nomination, Burgum is betting that what he has called a “silent majority” of voters who shun the ideological fringes would welcome a pragmatist over a divisive ideologue. He knows that he will have to overcome his underdog status as a governor of a small, rural state who is unknown in national politics.

“There’s a value to being underestimated all the time,” Burgum said, recalling that he had no endorsements in his first race. “That’s a competitive advantage.”

The post Doug Burgum ‘guess the farm’ on a software program agency. Now he is betting his enterprise savvy results in the White Home. – InForum appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

By Debra Morris –

Have you ever wondered why shells on chicken eggs are different colors? You can find some really beautifully colored eggs at your local farmers market. The color of the shells ranges from the usual white, through shades of cream, light brown and brown, to light and dark turquoise.

A chicken’s genes determine the color of the eggshell. You can tell what color the egg will lay by looking at the earlobes. A hen has earlobes you say? Never thought about it? Yes, although their ears are covered in feathers, the chicken’s earlobes are visible and come in a variety of colors. White-feathered hens with white earlobes lay white eggs. Red or brown hens with red earlobes lay brown eggs. Blue to green chicken eggs come from the Aracuana, a breed of chicken developed in Chile. Araucanas have also been crossed with other breeds to produce the Americauna, sometimes referred to as the “Easter Egg Chicken” because of its brightly colored eggs.

The color of a chicken’s feathered coat is irrelevant to the color of the eggs; Chickens actually come in a variety of shapes, colors, and sizes, ranging from the odd-looking Frizzled Cochin to the elegant black-and-white Sheetenvelders. Originally all chicken eggs were probably brown. Over time, selective breeding for white eggs became the norm. It wasn’t until the late 20th century that brown eggs were reintroduced, and then those breeds with bluish eggs came back, although breeders and farmers were obviously familiar with them.

Eggs of different colors have essentially the same taste, with the taste itself being determined by the chicken’s diet. Have you ever cracked open a farm-fresh egg to discover a deep, rich yellow yolk? Compare that to the pale yellow yolk you get in supermarket eggs. Grazing chickens are free to roam and eat insects, grass, and other natural foods in their environment. You can freely consume the required dietary minerals that are passed to the eggs and the shells.

Get your eggs from the Castro Farmers’ Market for the prettiest colors and flavor you can find. Visit Clara’s Egg Farm in Watsonville. Compare them to supermarket eggs. We bet you will notice the difference in quality and taste.

Scrambled eggs with onions and potatoes

1 small potato
1 shallot
2 eggs
¼ cup milk
1 stick of butter
1 tablespoon cream cheese
pinch of salt

Microwave potato on high for 4 to 5 minutes. Let the potato cool for at least 2 minutes and then check if it’s done. Cut the potato into bite-sized pieces and slice 1 teaspoon green onions; Reserve these to add to the scramble.

scrambled eggs

Crack eggs into a bowl. Add ¼ cup milk and a pinch of salt. Break up all the yolks with a fork and beat the mixture until it is the same color and consistency. Add the cream cheese and work into the eggs with a fork.

Heat a pan over medium heat and add a knob of butter. Move the butter around with your spatula and brush the pan with butter. When it starts to sizzle, add chopped potatoes and spring onions.

Add a pinch of salt and pour in the egg mixture. Keep moving the eggs, using a spatula to keep the eggs off the edge of the pan. It should be silky but not undercooked so that it becomes too mushy. You don’t want to overcook your eggs. They become dry and start to clump together. Remove pan from stove and serve.

Debra Morris is spokesperson for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association (PCFMA). For recipes, information about farmers markets throughout the area, and more, visit the PCFMA website: https://www.pcfma.org/

This month at the Castro Street Farmers Market
Released April 6, 2023

The post Farm Contemporary Eggs in a Rainbow of Colours – San Francisco Bay Occasions appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — A farm worker accused of killing seven people in consecutive shootings at two northern California mushroom farms was charged with seven murders and one attempted murder on Wednesday.

Chunli Zhao, 66, was due to appear in court for the first time on Wednesday, but it was delayed until February 16, San Mateo District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said. His two attorneys did not immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment.

Wagstaffe, speaking outside the courthouse, declined to give further details on a motive for the killing of Zhao’s current and former associates, saying he wanted to keep the details from the public to ensure a fair trial. Sheriff’s officials said it was workplace violence.

It was California’s third mass shooting in eight days and the largest in San Mateo County history, Wagstaffe said. It followed the killing of 11 people in the Los Angeles area during Saturday’s Lunar New Year celebrations.

Authorities believe Zhao acted alone Monday when he entered a mushroom farm where he worked in Half Moon Bay, shooting dead four people and seriously injuring a fifth. He then drove to a nearby farm where he previously worked and killed three other people, said Eamonn Allen, a sheriff’s spokesman.

Erlin Ortiz and her sister Miriam Ortiz gather mushrooms at the farm where Zhao is accused of killing four people.

Medical marijuana could lose ‘billions’ Here’s why

They were in their car after their shift when they saw Zhao, who was about 12 meters away, pull a gun from a backpack, yell something in Mandarin at a fellow Chinese farm worker, and then shoot the man, they told Bay Area News Group .

Zhao then shot a second worker and gunned down the first worker, who stood up and tried to run away, Erlin Ortiz said.

“He was super red and very angry,” she said of Zhao.

Shocked and horrified, Miriam Ortiz’s husband, who was behind the wheel, started the car and got ready to drive off.

Zhao turned to face them, then got on a forklift and drove to a camp on the farm where he and the sisters lived. It said his behavior had changed.

“He laughed, he smiled,” said Erlin Ortiz. “We saw him get on the forklift and when he turned to us he made fun of the situation.”

Erlin Ortiz said Zhao, who grew onions for himself and his wife in a small garden plot, waved and greeted them but always appeared serious.

The charges against Zhao include additional charges that could carry the death penalty or life in prison without parole, despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s moratorium on executions. These allegations include Zhao using a gun, causing serious bodily harm and killing several people.

The coroner’s office named six of the victims: Zhishen Liu, 73, of San Francisco; Marciano Martinez Jimenez, 50, of Moss Beach, California; Aixiang Zhang, 74, from San Francisco; Qizhong Cheng, 66, from Half Moon Bay; Jingzhi Lu, 64, from Half Moon Bay; and Yetao Bing, 43, whose hometown was unknown. The indictment documents identify Jose Romero Perez as the other person killed and Pedro Romero Perez as the eighth victim to survive the shooting.

Officials said some of the people killed were migrant workers. Some people were shot in trailers on the property, Wagstaffe said.

Servando Martinez Jimenez said his brother Marciano Martinez Jimenez, one of the victims, was a supplier and manager at one of the farms. He never mentioned Zhao or said anything about problems with other workers.

Classic car owner demands refund for incomplete paint job

“He was a good person. He was polite and friendly to everyone. He never had problems with anyone. I don’t understand why all this happened,” Martinez Jimenez said in Spanish.

Marciano Martinez Jimenez had lived in the United States for 28 years after arriving from the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Servando Martinez Jimenez said he was working with the Mexican consulate to bring his brother’s body home.

It wouldn’t have been Zhao’s first tantrum at work, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. In 2013, Zhao was accused of threatening to split open a colleague’s head with a knife and separately attempting to suffocate the man with a pillow, the Chronicle reported based on court filings.

The two were roommates and worked at a restaurant, and the man identified as Jingjiu Wang filed a restraining order against Zhao, which was granted but is no longer in effect. Wang could not be reached immediately, the Chronicle reported.

Zhao is from China and has lived in the United States for at least a dozen years, Wagstaffe said. He had legal paperwork to live once in the country, and investigators were determining whether it was still valid, Wagstaffe said. They also investigated his previous contact with law enforcement.

The shootings erupted at California Terra Garden, formerly known as Mountain Mushroom Farm, and near Concord Farms.

The majority of farmworkers in the area are Latinos, but Mountain Mushroom Farm was one of the few to employ Asian workers, said Belinda Hernandez, executive director of ALAS, a farmworker advocacy group based in Half Moon Bay. She said mushroom farms offer the benefit of year-round work.

David Oates, a spokesman for California Terra Garden, said he didn’t know how long Zhao worked there and that he was one of 35 employees who stayed when ownership changed. He declined to comment further on Wednesday and said he would contact law enforcement. And Aaron Tung, co-owner of Concord Farms, did not respond to a request for additional comment on Wednesday.

Half Moon Bay is a small, laid-back coastal and farming town about 30 miles south of San Francisco. Its sweeping views of the Pacific Ocean make it a popular spot for hikers and tourists who flock here for surfing and an annual giant pumpkin festival.

Edmond Police: Welfare becomes a murder investigation

The New Year has brought six mass murders with 39 deaths in less than three weeks in the US. Three have stalked California since Jan. 16, according to a database compiled by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University. The database tracks every mass murder — defined as four dead, not including the perpetrator — in the United States since 2006.

The Half Moon Bay and Monterey Park shootings followed the January 16 killing of a teenage mother, her baby and four others at a home in California’s Central Valley. Officials discussing the investigation mentioned a possible gang connection to the killings. ___

This story has been corrected to say that on January 16, six people were killed in California’s Central Valley, not eight people.

The post Suspect in Half Moon Bay farm killings faces 7 homicide counts appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

A Dutch court on Tuesday jailed an Austrian handyman for helping a cult leader to isolate his own children on a farm for a decade, in a case that shocked the Netherlands.

The man, identified only as 61-year-old Joseph B. due to Dutch privacy rules, played an ‘essential role’ in depriving the six children of their liberty in the remote northeastern village of Ruinerwold, the court ruled, jailing him for three years.

The Austrian was a ‘disciple’ of the children’s father Gerrit Jan van Dorsten, buying groceries and renting the farm where van Dorsten believed he was readying his children for a new world called Eden.

‘The defendant played an essential role, and without his contribution it would not have been possible for the father to allow the children to live isolated from society for such a long period,’ the court in the northern city of Assen said.

Judges acquitted Joseph B. of detaining three older children, and of abusing any of van Dorsten’s children.

But he was also convicted of detaining another Austrian man who was a follower of the father and hanging him up in a shack for several weeks in 2009.

The father, who was accused of detaining, assaulting and abusing his children, was ruled unfit to stand trial last year after suffering a debilitating stroke.

The Austrian was a ‘disciple’ of the children’s father Gerrit Jan van Dorsten, buying groceries and renting the farm (pictured) where van Dorsten believed he was readying his children for a new world called Eden

The ‘space’ had daylight coming into it and the children were occasionally allowed outside, but never further than the farm’s perimeter fence

Gerrit Jan van Dorsten is pictured in the farmhouse grounds, 60 miles north of Amsterdam. He was arrested on suspicion of deprivation of liberty among other charges, but suffered a stroke and had the court case against him dropped

Six adult children – four women and two men, including Jan Zon van Dorsten (pictured) – were held prisoner at a Dutch farm for nine years

Pictured: Cafe De Kastelein in Ruinerwold where Jan Zon van Dorsten raised the alarm

Police arrested van Dorsten and Joseph B. in October 2019 after the eldest child walked into a local bar in a confused state and raised the alarm.

The children eventually revealed that their father had isolated them at the farmhouse from birth and beaten them from a young age to drive out ‘bad spirits’.

The father saw himself as a new Messiah and ‘saw it as his task to found a new society called Eden according to the rules of God,’ the court ruling said.

Joseph B. had found the farm in Ruinerwold, rented it in his name and renovated it with van Dorsten so that the family could live there in isolation, the court said.

He also ensured that money transferred from Austria went to the father and took care of daily groceries, even after van Dorsten’s stroke in 2016.

He had a ‘different role’ to the father but there was ‘sufficiently close and conscious cooperation’ between them to show that he was also guilty, the court ruled.

The case of the so-called Ruinerwold Children stunned the Netherlands and sparked an award-winning documentary.

The six children who were kept on the farm are now all young adults.

But relatives of van Dorsten in 2019 revealed three older siblings had already fled left the family’s isolated life before the father bought the farm and held the remaining six children captive.

Their statement added that van Dorsten told his family to ‘not make any attempt to find his place of residence’ when the relative parted ways decades ago.

According to the NL Times, the family said: ‘The family has taken notice of the events in Ruinerwold with dismay. In the past few days a family member informed us of the identity of the family found.

‘Gerrit Jan van Dorsten broke all ties with his immediate family in the 1980s. He told us not to make any attempt to find his place of residence.

‘Eight years ago, three children of Gerrit Jan van Dorsten fled the family in Hasselt and contacted their brother from a previous marriage, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins. The family has since remained unaware of the existence of other children.’

Janny Knol, chief of the north Netherlands police, said in 2019 that the children were kept as an ‘enclosed space’ within the farm building which was divided ‘into small compartments.’

Ms Knol said the siblings – four women and two men – were largely kept inside the space but were occasionally allowed out into the yard, though no further than the farm’s perimeter fence.

Dutch police probing the case of a family who were locked away on an isolated farm for nine years. Prosecutors said the three oldest children were not allowed to talk about the existence of their brothers and sisters

Van Dorsten (pictured) posted videos on Facebook showing him working out in the garden

She said they appeared to be aged between 18 and 25, though that is not certain because they were not registered with authorities. They had not received any formal schooling, but were able to read and write Dutch.

In 2021, a court ruled that a 2016 stroke had so badly affected the father’s ability to communicate and comprehend that continuing with the case would breach his fair trial rights.

Corinne Jeekel, a lawyer representing the eldest four children, told Dutch broadcaster NOS that they were disappointed with the decision.

‘It is a great shame for the clients that there will be no criminal judgment’, Jeekel told national broadcaster NOS in March 2021.

The rest of the family, however, stood by their father.

‘The youngest five children are very happy,’ defense lawyer Robert Snorn told local broadcaster RTV Drenthe.

Prosecutors said at the time that the children are free to choose their own futures, even if that means returning to a life of isolation.

‘In the past 18 months, the children have got to know our society, have been able to participate in it and have received spiritual and medical care,’ prosecutors said in a statement.

‘If, now that they have been able to taste the alternative, they nevertheless choose to want to live in seclusion with their father again, to exercise their faith… that is their choice.’

The post Austrian handyman who helped Dutch cult father to cover youngsters on a farm is jailed for 3 years  appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

New York, NY, June 24, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (GREC), a leading owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, announced today that the company, through a wholly owned subsidiary, Altamont Winds Project made up of funds managed by Castlelake, LP, a global alternative investment manager focused on opportunistic real estate investments, including mid to late stage renewable energy development and repowering projects as well as specialty finance and aviation. – At 57.5 MW, it is the largest single value in Greenbacker’s wind portfolio. The Altamont Winds Project – Greenbacker’s second wind turbine in California – increases the company’s nationwide wind power capacity to just over 300 MW.

Located in Alameda County, the project uses wind from Altamont Pass, an area that has been operating wind turbines since the 1980s. The project is also located near the Bay Area cargo hold, which gives it strategic value from the perspective of future energy consumption and capacity needs.

The Altamont Winds Project, which is in the final stages of commissioning, has a long term power purchase agreement (PPA) with East Bay Community Energy, a Community Choice Aggregator (CCA). CCA enables residents, businesses and communities to purchase electricity from an alternative provider while using the transmission and distribution services of their local electricity supplier. This can help communities access cleaner and cheaper electricity than would otherwise be available.

“We are excited to expand Californians’ energy options and contribute to the growing availability of CCA in the Sunshine State,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “Bigger wind turbines like Altamont Winds are needed to meet our growing energy needs, and we are excited to play a role in providing the Bay Area with clean energy.”

“Castlelake congratulates Greenbacker on acquiring the Altamont Winds Project,” said Evan Carruthers, Castlelake’s managing partner and chief investment officer. “We are pleased that with this development project we have contributed to bringing additional capacities for renewable energies to the Bay Area.”

Greenbacker’s purchase of Altamont is the latest addition to its growing fleet of wind turbines. This is followed by the acquisition of Rippey Wind, a 50 MW wind farm in Iowa.

With the acquisition of this project, Greenbacker will have around 1.18 GW of generation capacity (including the systems to be built), of which 855.4 MW of large-scale and decentralized solar systems, 300.1 MW of wind systems, 16.0 MW of battery storage, and 12 , 0 MW biomass plants.

About Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC is a publicly reporting, privately held, limited energy company that acquires and manages income generating renewable energy and energy efficiency projects and other energy related businesses. The projects in which we invest, such as solar and wind systems, sell electricity under long-term contracts to creditworthy counterparties such as utilities, municipalities and corporations. More information is available at www.greenbackercapital.com.

About Castlelake LP

Castlelake, LP is a global alternative investment manager focused on opportunistic investments in real assets, specialty finance and aviation. Founded in 2005, Castlelake manages approximately $ 20 billion in assets on behalf of its investors. The Castlelake team consists of more than 200 seasoned professionals, including 89 investment professionals, in six offices in North America, Europe and Asia. Please visit www.castlelake.com for more information.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements were made. Although Greenbacker believes that the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, Greenbacker cannot guarantee that expectations will be met or that differences will not be material. Greenbacker assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect actual results or changes in its expectations.

Media contacts:

attachment

The Altamont Winds Project

Copyright 2021 GlobeNewswire, Inc.

The post Greenbacker Renewable Power Firm Acquires 57.5 MW Wind Farm in San Francisco Bay Space | Information appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.