US utility AES Corporation is reportedly in discussions to be acquired by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a subsidiary of global asset owning giant BlackRock.
According to media reports, GIP is close to acquiring AES for around US$38 billion. AES shares jumped almost 17% on the NYSE on Wednesday, though they have partially retreated since then.
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AES said it did not comment on “rumours in the marketplace” when PV Tech approached the company about this story.
If GIP takes control of AES, its parent company, BlackRock, would add one of the largest US power utilities to its asset portfolio. AES has around 13.2GW of renewable energy in operation as of March 2025, 42% of which is solar PV, 24% wind, 22% hydro and 12% energy storage capacity. It also claims to have the most clean energy power purchase agreements (PPA) in place with corporations globally, led by US tech giants like Amazon and Google.
In Q2 2025, AES posted net losses of US$150 million, a roughly US$300 million drop compared with the same period in 2024.
The Trump administration’s attacks on the renewable energy industries has affected the stock price of renewables-heavy US firms like AES. Asset owning giants like BlackRock may be looking to take advantage of this by buying up companies in the sector.
BlackRock already owns a significant share of NextEra Energy, as well as owning commercial and industrial (C&I) PV developer DSD Renewables (DSD) and a 20% minority stake in PV developer Recurrent Energy.
It acquired GIP in October last year for US$12.5 billion, which brought with it a significant portfolio of renewable energy assets, as well as significant oil and natural gas assets.
Fellow asset owner Brookfield bought a roughly 20% stake in Duke Energy Florida, another major US utility, earlier this year.
US electricity demand is expected to soar in the coming years, mostly from data centre expansions by big tech companies to power artificial intelligence. Meeting that demand will require significant power capacity expansions and grid upgrades, which will be led by large utilities like AES, NextEra and Duke Energy. US utilities may seem like attractive investments for wall street firms like BlackRock, with AI demand grpwth on the horizon.
