ROUNDUP: Investors acquire US developers Cypress Creek, Clēnera and Dimension Renewable Energy

Headquartered in California, Cypress Creek develops, finances, operates and owns utility-scale and distributed solar and storage facilities. With a presence in 25 US states, the company has 1.6GW of operating assets and has commercialised 11GW of projects since its inception in 2014.

The partnership with Sweden-based EQT will support Cypress Creek in expanding its fleet of operating assets and scaling its operations and maintenance business.

The transaction, expected to close in the second half of 2021, will see the developer acquired by the EQT Infrastructure V fund.

Cypress Creek added nearly 400MW of utility-scale and distributed solar to the grid last year, including plants in Maryland, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas and the firm’s largest installation to date, the 162MW Wagyu solar project in Brazoria County, Texas.

In November, the company closed US$200 million debt financing for the holding company that owns its portfolio of operating solar energy projects.

For EQT, the deal comes weeks after it announced a takeover bid for Solarpack, signing an agreement to acquire 51% of the Spanish solar developer’s shares.

This story by Jules Scully. It originally appeared on PV Tech here. 

1 July 20201: IPP Enlight Renewable Energy to acquire 90% of Clēnera

Israeli IPP Enlight Renewable Energy announced an agreement to acquire 90% of US solar and storage developer Clēnera for US$433 million.  

Done through a US subsidiary, the acquisition sees Enlight add Boise, Idaho-based Clēnera’s 1.6GWdc of utility-scale solar to its portfolio.

Clēnera is also currently developing a pipeline of 12GWdc of solar PV and 5.5GWh of energy storage in 20 US states.

The transaction takes Enlight’s portfolio to over 16GWdc of solar and wind, and 7.5GWh of energy storage in 11 countries.

“Clēnera’s outstanding track record and market leadership will allow the unified companies to continue their rapid and profitable growth path,” said Enlight CEO Gilad Yavetz. 

“As part of Enlight’s global renewables platform, Clēnera’s ability to create high-performing solar and storage projects increases substantially,” said Clēnera CEO Jason Ellsworth.

This story by Sean Rai-Roche. It originally appeared on PV Tech here. 

1 July 2021: Community solar and storage developer Dimension acquired by Partners Group

Investment firm Partners Group has agreed to acquire a controlling stake in Dimension Renewable Energy, a US-based distributed energy platform focused on community solar and battery storage.

The deal comes three years after Dimension was founded and will see Switzerland-headquartered Partners Group support the company in growing its portfolio and entering new markets, as it aims to become a more than US$1 billion platform.

With a focus on developing, financing and operating community solar and battery storage facilities across the US, Dimension has grown a pipeline of more than 180 projects in eight states with a combined solar capacity of over 800MW as well as 800MWh of battery storage.

Early last year, Dimension secured a deal to develop a 300MW / 1,200 MWh portfolio of utility-scale battery energy storage projects in New York State alongside Ares Infrastructure and Power.

Partners Group said that community solar benefits from several trends driving the low-carbon transition, including the increasing environmental consciousness of consumers as well as a regulatory landscape facilitating the decentralisation of the power sector to improve reliability.

“The highly fragmented nature of the community solar market in the US, as well as Partners Group’s extensive experience building platform assets, allows for significant potential to add to Dimension’s organic pipeline through project-level M&A,” said Todd Bright, partner, head of private infrastructure Americas, Partners Group.

This story by Jules Scully. It originally appeared on PV Tech here.