Brookfield ramps US clean energy drive with $1.54bn Scout and Standard Solar deals
The Canadian asset management giant will acquire the firms and their combined 24GW pipeline of wind, solar, and battery storage projects
Canada’s Brookfield Renewable Corporation has agreed to pay $1bn to acquire Colorado solar and wind developer Scout Clean Energy and announced the closing of its $540m purchase for Maryland based Standard Solar.
Brookfield will invest an additional $350m to support Scout’s business development activities and a potential $160m more for the same purpose in Standard Solar.
Both Scout and Standard Solar will continue to operate as independent businesses within the Brookfield Renewable US platform, whose CEO is Mitch Davidson, former head of NextEra Energy Resources, the largest US wind and solar player.
Brookfield is acquiring Scout from Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a clean energy investment fund, which acquired the start-up in 2017.
Scout’s portfolio includes more than 1.2GW of operating wind assets, including 400MW managed on behalf of third parties. It claims a pipeline of more than 22GW of wind, solar and storage projects across 24 states, including almost 2.5GW of projects under construction and in advanced stages of development.
Standard Solar has 500MW of commercial and community solar projects in operation and under construction and almost a 2GW development pipeline, according to Brookfield. Most of those projects are in Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and New York.
“We are thrilled to be putting more dollars to work in our US renewables business,” said Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Renewable.
Those incentives include a 10-year extension of federal tax credits for both wind and solar, and a 10% bonus higher value for using certain percentage of domestic content for inputs. There are also new tax credits for standalone battery storage.
“Through this acquisition, which provides additional large-scale access to capital, Standard Solar is poised for massive growth, enabling us to contribute in an even more significant way to the clean energy transition,” said CEO Scott Wiater.
On 1 January, Brookfield Renewable US owned almost 3GW of utility wind, solar, and battery energy storage capacity, good for 18th place among clean power companies here, according to trade group American Clean Power Association.