Three investments into the US community solar sector from Brookfield, TPG and City National Bank/First American Commercial Bancorp worth over US$2.5 billion paint a picture of a fast-growing sector being increasingly bought up by private asset managers.
TPG acquires Altus Power
US private equity firm TPG – formerly known as Texas Pacific Group – has signed a deal to acquire Altus Power, a leading US community and commercial-scale solar developer.
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TPG will acquire Altus Power’s common stock at US$5 per share, which values the company at a total of US$2.2 billion, including outstanding debt. The acquisition is made through the TPG Rise Climate Transition Infrastructure funding vehicle, which makes investments into energy transition projects. Following the closure of the deal, Altus Power will delist from the New York Stock Exchange and become a privately-owned entity.
Community solar projects are designed to supply power to a local area and allow households, businesses and other customers to pay for a share of the power generated by the project.
In October, Altus Power announced a “strategic alternatives review” to increase its access to capital, following what board chair Christine Detrick called an “ongoing disconnect between the share price and our view of intrinsic value”.
At the time, Detrick said: “exploring alternative ownership structures is a prudent course to maximise value for our investors, partners, customers and employees.”
Altus said it expects the TPG acquisition to “strengthen its ability to deliver greater value to both commercial and community solar customers” and “scale its operations more rapidly to meet the surging demand for increased power generation.”
TPG also has investments in Spanish PV developer Matrix Renewables and US renewables company Intersect Power.
Encore Renewable Energy bags US$389 million from Brookfield
Vermont-based community solar company Encore Renewable Energy has closed a US$369 million investment from Canadian asset manager Brookfield Renewables.
Encore said the funding will support its growth as in independent power producer (IPP), which develops, owns and operates its projects, by financing the construction of community solar and energy storage systems across the US.
“This is a transformational moment for Encore as we enter the next phase of our strategic transition into an IPP,” said Blake Sturcke, co-CEO of Encore Renewable Energy. “With this funding, we are now poised to meet the rapidly growing energy demand across numerous US markets with clean, reliable and cost-efficient power generation and storage solutions.”
The financing “integrates construction-to-term debt and a tax equity bridge within a single debt facility”, Encore said; Brookfield managing partner Hadley Peer Marshall added that the funding was a “bespoke” package “driven by the growing demand for power” in the US.
Brookfield is one of the biggest financial players in the US solar market. In addition to investments in numerous project developers, it purchased the commercial utility-scale solar business of regional utility Duke Energy in 2023 for US$2.8 billion.
BlueWave secures US$118.2 Million for Maine portfolio
North-east US solar developer BlueWave has closed US$118.2 million in debt and tax equity financing to support a community solar portfolio in the state of Maine.
The funding comes through a debt raise of US$48.2 million with City National Bank and a tax equity raise of US$70 million with First American Commercial Bancorp. BlueWave said the funds will support equipment and infrastructure to be used on four community solar projects in Maine.
BlueWave said the four projects in question are all qualified under Maine’s net Energy Billing programme, which provides reduced electricity bills to customers of community solar projects. PV Tech Premium interviewed the company in 2023 about its community solar and agrivoltaics operations in Maine.
To date, the company said it has developed 46.4MWdc of solar PV capacity in the state, 22.7MWdc of which feeds into Maine’s Net Energy Billing scheme.
BlueWave CEO and co-founder Trevor Hardy said: “This new portfolio of projects in Maine is helping us accomplish our goal, bringing renewable energy and utility savings to the communities we work within and serve every day. The support from our new financial partners and ongoing support from our parent company, Axium Infrastructure, also enables us to help advance the state’s clean energy goals.”
