US solar and energy storage developer Borrego will spin off and sell its development business, including its more than 8.4GW PV project pipeline, to investment firm ECP.
With an energy storage pipeline of 6.4GW / 25GWh, the development unit will be operated by ECP as an independent company upon completion of the deal. The unit’s current president, Dan Berwick, will become CEO.
“We are thrilled that we were able to find a partner with ECP’s industry experience, financial resources and reputation,” Borrego CEO Mike Hall said.
The deal comes less than 18 months after San Diego-headquartered Borrego pivoted to a utility-scale strategic focus and set a target of reaching gigawatt-scale for each of its three units – development, EPC and O&M – by 2024.
The company will now focus on the other two units. It currently has more than 450MW of solar and 200MW of energy storage projects in design or construction, while it manages 1.4GW of operating PV assets.
“We are seeing tremendous opportunities in Borrego’s EPC and O&M services,” Hall said. “This sale ensures we can invest in our people and build the technology that will position them to capitalise on what will be a record-breaking decade for solar and storage deployment in the United States.”
For ECP, the transaction follows moves to bolster its solar portfolio last year with the acquisition of commercial and community PV developer Pivot Energy and a 50% stake in renewables developer and operator Terra-Gen.
Prior to those deals, the investment firm acquired energy storage solutions provider Convergent Energy + Power in a 2019 transaction worth ‘several hundred million dollars’, while it invested US$300 million in residential solar installer Sunnova back in 2016.
“We believe the opportunity set in sustainable infrastructure is expanding rapidly as the world continues to advance electrification as a means to decarbonise,” said ECP partner Andrew Gilbert.
Among the other US solar developers to have changed hands so far this year include: Urban Grid, acquired by Brookfield Renewable for US$650 million; BlueWave, which was bought by investment management firm Axium Infrastructure earlier this month; and distributed PV developer New Energy Equity, acquired by utility Allete.