Private equity firm American Securities has secured a deal to acquire US solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) provider Swinerton Renewable Energy and its operations and maintenance (O&M) subsidiary SOLV from Swinerton Incorporated.
The transaction will combine Swinerton’s EPC and O&M groups together under one name, SOLV Energy, with the present management team of both transitioning to the combined business.
Formed in 2008 to provide solar EPC services for Swinerton’s commercial clients before pivoting to the utility-scale market, Swinerton Renewable Energy has to date built more than 7GW of solar PV capacity in 26 US states. Its SOLV division was established in 2012 to carry out O&M capabilities both in-house and for third-party plants.
“Our team is excited to transition SRE and SOLV Inc. to become a single, independent company focused on US solar and storage infrastructure,” said George Hershman, head of SRE and SOLV.
Among the solar farms that Swinerton has worked on in recent months are the 331MWdc Prospero 2 plant in Texas and the 200MW Prairie Wolf project in Illinois.
For New York-based American Securities, the deal sees the firm further expand its portfolio of solar EPC providers following its acquisition of CS Energy earlier this year.
Consolidation in the US solar sector has continued throughout 2021, with PV and storage systems developer Cypress Creek Renewables acquired by private equity firm EQT in July, while engineering and procurement provider Blattner was bought by Quanta Services earlier this month in a deal worth US$2.7 billion.
Corporate funding in the global solar sector reached US$13.5 billion in H1 2021, an almost threefold increase year-on-year, according to consultancy Mercom Capital Group, which highlighted the diversification of oil and gas companies into renewables. One such deal this year has seen Repsol acquire a 40% stake in US solar and storage project developer Hecate Energy.
