Appointment strengthens PowerBank's financial leadership as the Company scales its North American energy and digital infrastructure platform

Ms. Rusaw brings over 20 years of public company finance leadership and has a proven track record of guiding companies through periods of transition and growth

TORONTO, Aug. 24, 2026 /CNW/ -- PowerBank Corporation $(PBK)$ (Cboe CA: PBK) (FSE: 103) ("PowerBank" or the "Company"), a vertically integrated independent North American energy company, today announced the appointment of Nicole Rusaw, CPA, CA, as Chief Financial Officer, effective immediately. Ms. Rusaw succeeds Sam Sun and will oversee the Company's financial strategy as PowerBank continues to scale its North American energy infrastructure platform and expand into new growth areas, including supporting digital infrastructure.

"On behalf of the Board and our entire team, I am delighted to welcome Nicole to PowerBank," said Dr. Richard Lu, Chief Executive Officer of PowerBank. "Nicole brings more than two decades of public company finance leadership and extensive experience navigating periods of transition, capital raising and growth. As PowerBank scales its project pipeline and moves into new markets, including supporting AI-driven infrastructure, her expertise across capital markets, financial reporting, risk management and corporate governance will be invaluable to our team and our shareholders. I would also like to thank Sam for his years of leadership and contributions to PowerBank as Chief Financial Officer. We wish him continued success."

"I am thrilled to join PowerBank at such a pivotal point in its growth," said Nicole Rusaw, incoming Chief Financial Officer of PowerBank. "PowerBank has built an impressive development pipeline and a strong reputation as a reliable partner to its communities and off-takers. I look forward to working with Richard and the team to support the Company's continued expansion, strengthen its financial foundation, and help position PowerBank for its next phase of growth."

Ms. Rusaw is a Chartered Professional Accountant and Chartered Accountant (Ontario) and holds a Bachelor of Accounting, Co-op, with First Class Honours from Brock University.

About PowerBank Corporation

PowerBank Corporation is an independent renewable and clean energy project developer and owner focusing on distributed and community solar projects in Canada and the USA. The Company develops solar and Battery Energy Storage System $(BESS)$ projects that sell electricity to utilities, commercial, industrial, municipal and residential off-takers. The Company maximizes returns via a diverse portfolio of projects across multiple leading North America markets including projects with utilities, host off-takers, community solar, and virtual net metering projects. The Company has a potential development pipeline of over one gigawatt and has developed renewable and clean energy projects with a combined capacity of over 100 megawatts built. To learn more about PowerBank, please visit www.powerbankcorp.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation (collectively, "forward-looking statements") that relate to the Company's current expectations and views of future events. Any statements that express, or involve discussions as to, expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, through the use of words or phrases such as "will likely result", "are expected to", "expects", "will continue", "is anticipated", "anticipates", "believes", "estimated", "intends", "plans", "forecast", "projection", "strategy", "objective" and "outlook") are not historical facts and may be forward-looking statements and may involve estimates, assumptions and uncertainties which could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in such forward-looking statements. In particular and without limitation, this news release contains forward-looking statements pertaining to the Company's expectations regarding its industry trends and overall market growth; the Company's growth strategies; the expected contributions of Ms. Rusaw; and the size of the Company's development pipeline. No assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements included in this news release should not be unduly relied upon. These statements speak only as of the date of this news release.

Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by the Company in light of the experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments and other factors it believes are appropriate, and are subject to risks and uncertainties. In making the forward looking statements included in this news release, the Company has made various material assumptions, including but not limited to: obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals; that regulatory requirements will be maintained; general business and economic conditions; the Company's ability to successfully execute its plans and intentions; the availability of financing on reasonable terms; that the procurement of transformers is sufficient to safe harbor the Company's projects in order for the Projects to remain eligible for the United States Investment Tax Credits; the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled staff; market competition; the products and services offered by the Company's competitors; that the Company's current good relationships with its service providers and other third parties will be maintained; and government subsidies and funding for renewable energy will continue as currently contemplated. Although the Company believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect, and the Company cannot assure that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. Given these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

Whether actual results, performance or achievements will conform to the Company's expectations and predictions is subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors, including those listed under "Forward- Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recently completed Annual Information Form, and other public filings of the Company, which include: the Company may be adversely affected by volatile solar power market and industry conditions; the execution of the Company's growth strategy depends upon the continued availability of third-party financing arrangements; that the procurement of transformers is determined to not be sufficient to safe harbor the Company's projects in order for the Projects to remain eligible for the United States Investment Tax Credits; the Company's future success depends partly on its ability to expand the pipeline of its energy business in several key markets; governments may revise, reduce or eliminate incentives and policy support schemes for solar and battery storage power; general global economic conditions may have an adverse impact on our operating performance and results of operations; the Company's project development and construction activities may not be successful; developing and operating solar Project exposes the Company to various risks; the Company faces a number of risks involving Power Purchase Agreements ("PPAs") and project-level financing arrangements; any changes to the laws, regulations and policies that the Company is subject to may present technical, regulatory and economic barriers to the purchase and use of solar power; the markets in which the Company competes are highly competitive and evolving quickly; an anti-circumvention investigation could adversely affect the Company by potentially raising the prices of key supplies for the construction of solar power projects; foreign exchange rate fluctuations; a change in the Company's effective tax rate can have a significant adverse impact on its business; seasonal variations in demand linked to construction cycles and weather conditions may influence the Company's results of operations; the Company may be unable to generate sufficient cash flows or have access to external financing; the Company may incur substantial additional indebtedness in the future; the Company is subject to risks from supply chain issues; risks related to inflation and tariffs; unexpected warranty expenses that may not be adequately covered by the Company's insurance policies; if the Company is unable to attract and retain key personnel, it may not be able to compete effectively in the renewable energy market; there are a limited number of purchasers of utility-scale quantities of electricity; compliance with environmental laws and regulations can be expensive; corporate responsibility may adversely impose additional costs; the future impact of any global pandemic on the Company is unknown at this time; the Company has limited insurance coverage; the Company will be reliant on information technology systems and may be subject to damaging cyberattacks; the Company may become subject to litigation; there is no guarantee on how the Company will use its available funds; the Company will continue to sell securities for cash to fund operations, capital expansion, mergers and acquisitions that will dilute the current shareholders; and future dilution as a result of financings.