Renewable Energy Acquisitions in 2021

Scout Clean Energy has acquired Stockton Lake Solar Farm, LLC from Azimuth Renewables and will lead development, procurement, construction and operation of the planned 112 MWdc project near Eudora in Polk County, Missouri. Azimuth Renewables will remain involved through a development services agreement; Scout expects to invest approximately $120 million and begin commercial operations in 2025.

The AES Corporation announced the acquisition of US solar developer Community Energy Solar, LLC, adding the developer's ~10 GW project pipeline and experienced development team to AES's renewables platform. The deal expands AES's US renewables development capability and bolsters its pipeline and workforce as the company pursues further growth in utility-scale solar and storage.

Stem, Inc. acquired AlsoEnergy (Also Energy Holdings, Inc.), a global leader in solar asset management software, in a cash-and-stock transaction announced in December 2021 and closed in early 2022. The ~$695 million deal (approximately 75% cash / 25% stock) expands Stem's software capabilities and assets under management, adding ~32–33 GW of solar AUM and broadening cross-sell opportunities across utility and commercial & industrial customers.

Fiera Infrastructure acquired 100% of Cube District Energy from I Squared Capital and will rename the business Captis Energy. Cube owns and operates eight landfill gas-to-energy and cogeneration assets across the southeastern United States under long-term contracts; Fiera said it plans to expand the platform through additional acquisitions and development, including RNG projects.

Catalyze, a Boulder-based independent power producer, made a minority investment in and formed a strategic partnership with Microgrid Labs (MGL) to deliver turnkey fleet electrification planning, implementation, financing and operations across North America. The partnership combines Catalyze’s renewable generation, storage and charging deployment capabilities with MGL’s fleet electrification software and consulting to offer integrated fleet-as-a-service solutions to commercial, industrial and municipal customers.

Macquarie Asset Management, via its Macquarie Green Investment Group Renewable Energy Fund 2, has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire a 90% equity interest in French solar developer and operator Apex Energies Group from a consortium of investors. Apex, which develops, builds and operates rooftop and ground-mounted solar projects across France and also provides energy-efficiency and monitoring services through subsidiaries ORA and S4E, will support Macquarie’s expansion of its renewable energy platform in France.

Ballard Power Systems acquired 100% of UK-based Arcola Energy for total consideration of up to US$40 million (cash, earn-outs and shares). The deal brings Arcola’s ~90 systems-engineering staff into Ballard to strengthen vehicle powertrain and fuel cell systems integration capabilities and deepen Ballard’s presence in the UK for heavy-duty fuel cell mobility.

iSun, Inc. completed the acquisition of SunCommon, adding a leading residential, community and commercial solar installer to its business for approximately $25.5 million in cash plus 1,810,915 shares of iSun common stock, with additional working capital and employee distributions. The deal positions the combined company as a regional full-service solar installation leader across residential, commercial, industrial and utility-scale markets and supports iSun's East Coast residential expansion strategy.

Enviva Partners, LP completed a GP buy-in acquiring 100% of Enviva Holdings, LP and eliminated its incentive distribution rights (IDRs) in exchange for 16 million EVA common units (approx. $870 million based on a 20‑day VWAP). The transaction simplifies the corporate structure, enables a planned conversion from an MLP to a C‑Corp (Enviva Inc.), and is intended to lower Enviva’s cost of capital, expand its investor base, and retain incremental cash flow for growth.

Silicon Ranch Corporation, Shell's U.S. solar platform, has acquired clean tech pioneer Clearloop. The acquisition will allow Silicon Ranch to expand its corporate decarbonization and carbon-offset offerings by integrating Clearloop's model of funding solar projects that benefit economically distressed U.S. communities.

Adani Green Energy Limited (AGEL) completed the acquisition of 100% of SB Energy India from SoftBank Group (80%) and Bharti Group (20%), valuing SB Energy India at a fully completed enterprise value of approximately USD 3.5 billion. The transaction adds a 5 GWac renewable portfolio (1,700 MW in operation, 2,554 MW under construction and ~700 MW near construction) to AGEL; TotalEnergies, which owns 20% of AGEL, consequently adds ~1.4 GWp of net capacity to its renewables holdings.

Ember Infrastructure has committed $30 million of equity to Denver-based SunShare to accelerate the community solar developer's growth and expansion into new states. The growth capital investment will support SunShare's project development, ownership and subscription business; Ember partner Bob Kelly will join SunShare's board as part of the transaction.

BorgWarner made a $10 million Series A minority investment in Enexor BioEnergy to support commercialization of the startup's on-site renewable energy and carbon-conversion systems. The investment strengthens BorgWarner's sustainability and clean-energy technology portfolio and enables collaboration on low‑carbon power solutions.

SER Capital Partners committed $82 million in growth capital to Brightcore Energy to expand the company’s balance sheet and accelerate deployment and financing of commercial clean energy and efficiency projects. Metric Point Capital acted as exclusive placement agent; the investment will support Brightcore’s solar, LED lighting, HVAC/geothermal, EV charging, battery storage and smart building offerings for commercial, industrial and institutional customers.

KKR made a significant minority growth investment in Sol Systems to scale the renewable energy developer’s Impact + Infrastructure platform and fund the acquisition of shovel-ready solar and storage projects. The investment includes a strategic partnership in which KKR committed up to $1 billion to acquire ready-to-build projects and support Sol Systems’ development, asset management and community-focused renewable solutions.

Kinder Morgan, Inc. agreed to acquire Indianapolis-based Kinetrex Energy from an affiliate of Parallel49 Equity for $310 million. The acquisition brings Kinetrex's LNG fueling business and growing renewable natural gas (RNG) platform — including a 50% interest in a major Indiana RNG facility and three additional landfill RNG projects under development — into Kinder Morgan's Energy Transition Ventures to expand its RNG capabilities.

Alussa Energy Acquisition Corp. completed a business combination with Norway-based FREYR AS, which will operate as FREYR Battery and began trading on the NYSE under the ticker FREY. The transaction included a $600 million PIPE anchored by strategic and institutional investors (including Koch Strategic Platforms, Glencore, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Sylebra Capital and VanEck) and is expected to provide approximately $704 million in gross proceeds to fund FREYR's plan to develop up to 43 GWh of battery cell production capacity in Mo i Rana, Norway.

Hull Street Energy acquired the management team and development pipeline of Foundation Solar Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based utility-scale solar developer. The deal adds Foundation's ~1 GW of sold projects in the PJM territory to Hull Street's growing portfolio of power generation and development assets, expanding the firm's renewable development capabilities in the eastern United States.

EQT Infrastructure V has agreed to acquire Cypress Creek Renewables, a vertically integrated U.S. solar and storage developer, owner and operator, from funds managed by HPS Investment Partners and Temasek. The deal will support Cypress Creek's growth plans — including investments in operations, digital and sustainability initiatives — and is expected to close subject to customary approvals in H2 2021.

ReGenerate Energy Holdings, a joint venture between Ember Infrastructure and ReEnergy Biomass Operations, acquired the Albany Green Energy 50 MW biomass heat-and-power facility in Albany, Georgia from a subsidiary of Exelon Generation Company LLC. The facility (about 25 employees) will join ReGenerate's platform, increasing its operating biomass capacity and supporting contracted power and steam supply to nearby industrial and government customers.

The Maven VCTs have invested £2 million in London-based Guru Systems, a supplier of IoT hardware, software, and AI-driven analytics for heat networks. The funding will support Guru's sales and marketing expansion and the development and rollout of new hardware and software products to accelerate adoption of low-carbon heating solutions.

Ara Partners has acquired UK renewable energy company Anesco through its portfolio platform, Aksiom Services Group. The acquisition expands Aksiom's technical and commercial services capabilities in solar and energy storage, with Anesco continuing to be led by CEO Mark Futyan.

ECP (Energy Capital Partners) has acquired Pivot Energy, a national commercial and community solar developer, in a transaction that closed on June 1, 2021. The deal gives Pivot increased access to capital to accelerate project development, expand product offerings, and transition toward aggregating and managing recurring, cash-flowing solar and storage assets.

Macquarie Capital Principal Finance has acquired a majority stake in Evercreech Renewable Energy Ltd, a greenfield anaerobic digestion (AD) project in Somerset, United Kingdom. The Evercreech plant will be added to Macquarie’s Adapt Biogas platform to expand biomethane-to-grid capacity and fund construction and operations, with the plant expected to inject gas to the national grid by early 2022.

SparkCognition has acquired Ensemble Energy to integrate the latter’s renewable-energy software and domain expertise into SparkCognition’s AI platform, creating an AI-enabled asset management offering for wind, solar and energy storage. The acquisition expands SparkCognition’s capabilities in renewable asset performance management to help operators reduce costs and increase production.

TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company ASA (TGS) has acquired 4C Offshore Ltd., a Lowestoft-based market intelligence and consultancy firm focused on the offshore wind industry. The acquisition expands TGS's New Energy Solutions capabilities by adding 4C Offshore's subscription-based data platform, analytics and consulting services to support offshore wind developers, operators and equipment providers.

424 Capital has completed the acquisition of QE Solar, a Cranford, New Jersey-based provider of operations and maintenance (O&M) services for commercial, industrial, and utility-scale solar and battery energy storage systems. The investment will provide capital to support QE Solar's nationwide workforce growth and expand its capabilities in solar and battery storage services; QE Solar employs over 80 field technicians and engineers and services more than 2.0 GW of C&I solar installations.

EverGen Infrastructure Corp., a Canadian renewable natural gas (RNG) infrastructure platform, has acquired Fraser Valley Biogas Ltd., the original producing RNG facility in Western Canada located in Abbotsford, British Columbia. EverGen plans to expand and optimize the facility—boosting production from over 80,000 gigajoules annually to more than 125,000 gigajoules—and integrate operations with its existing BC waste-to-energy projects to realize operational synergies.

Visionstate Corp. signed a letter of intent to acquire the outstanding shares of Exceed Solar, an Alberta-based renewable energy company focused on smart, solar-enabled building envelopes for residential applications. The deal consideration is CAD 100,000 cash plus CAD 200,000 in Visionstate shares, and the acquisition builds Visionstate's sustainability and IoT capabilities by combining Exceed Solar's solar/building-envelope technology with Visionstate's IoT and analytics expertise.

GEV Wind Power, backed by Bridges Sustainable Growth Funds, has merged with Danish Wind Power LAB to create a combined global provider of blade inspection, predictive maintenance and repair services for wind turbines. The deal brings Wind Power LAB’s machine learning–enabled blade-inspection capabilities into the Bridges-backed GEV platform to expand technology-enabled blade services and accelerate global growth.

Sunworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW) agreed to acquire privately held Solcius, LLC in an all-cash transaction valued at $51.8 million (cash-free, debt-free), combining Sunworks' commercial and utility capabilities with Solcius' residential installation platform. The deal creates a national solar provider with a presence in 12 states and pro forma 2020 revenue of approximately $131.5 million, with Sunworks expecting synergies and near-term profitability post-integration.

Catalyze has acquired Los Angeles-based solar developer and installer PermaCity, expanding Catalyze’s commercial & industrial (C&I) project pipeline to more than 2 gigawatts and strengthening its presence in the California rooftop solar market. The deal gives Catalyze access to PermaCity’s proprietary SolarStrap rooftop mounting technology and an experienced C&I installation team; PermaCity will operate as a business unit led by founder Jonathan Port.

Sunnova Energy International Inc. completed its acquisition of SunStreet Energy Group, Lennar Corporation’s residential solar platform and has been named Lennar’s exclusive solar and storage service provider for new-home communities across the United States. As part of the deal, Lennar committed to provide tax-equity investments to support Sunnova’s homebuilder customer pipeline, enabling Sunnova to scale installations and offer battery storage and other energy services to SunStreet customers.

NovaSource Power Services (a Clairvest-backed platform) completed the acquisition of First Solar’s North American operations & maintenance business (First Solar Energy Services), making NovaSource the largest solar O&M provider globally. Clairvest provided incremental equity to support the deal; the transaction transfers First Solar’s North American O&M operations to NovaSource to deepen O&M capabilities across utility, commercial, industrial and residential solar assets.

Nuvve Holding Corp. completed a business combination with Newborn Acquisition Corp., enabling Nuvve to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker NVVE. The transaction provided Nuvve approximately $62 million in cash proceeds (including a related private placement) to accelerate development and commercial deployment of its vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology and related services.

Houston-based investment firms Genesis Park and GEC have taken equity positions in Austin-headquartered Freedom Solar, providing growth capital to support the company's aggressive expansion across Texas, into Colorado and beyond. The partners bring renewable-energy experience and financial backing while Freedom Solar's existing management team remains in place to continue scaling residential and commercial turnkey solar and battery-backup installations.

Volaris Group, an operating group of Constellation Software Inc., has acquired ConWX ApS, a Copenhagen-based provider of weather-driven power forecasting and data-as-a-service for wind and solar energy operators. The acquisition marks Volaris' first entry into the renewable energy vertical; ConWX will continue to operate independently under its existing management.

NovaSource Power Services, a portfolio company of Clairvest Group Inc., has merged with SunSystem Technology (SST); the combined business will operate under the NovaSource brand. The transaction brings together field technicians and operations to expand nationwide renewable O&M coverage (the combined group has ~550 field technicians) and positions Derek Chase (CEO of SST) to lead NovaSource's Distributed Generation O&M business.