UAE's Masdar closes deal for 50% of US renewables firm Terra-Gen in gigascale swoop

Abu Dhabi developer Masdar has closed on its acquisition of a 50% stake in US renewables developer Terra-Gen in one of its largest deals to date.

Masdar purchased its stake from Energy Capital Partners, which has now fully exited its position. Masdar now joins Australia-based Igneo Infrastructure Partners in a 50-50 joint venture (JV) in Terra-Gen.

The acquisition raises Masdar’s 1.4GW US renewables portfolio by 3.8GW of wind, solar and battery storage capacity, including 5.1GWh of energy storage, mostly in California and Texas.

Terra-Gen has a 12GW development pipeline, including 386MW of Texas wind and California solar, and 512MWh of California energy storage facilities, with commercial operations anticipated in 2025.

“Masdar has a strong track record of supporting US renewable energy projects, and the acquisition of Terra-Gen reaffirms this long-standing commitment,” said chairman Sultan Al Jaber.

“We are now on target to surpass our goal of having 10GW of integrated renewable generation capacity in the US by 2030,” added Al Jaber, who is also United Arab Emirates (UAE) minister of industry and advanced technology and COP28 president.

Niall Mills, managing partner and global head of Igneo, said: “We see tremendous potential to continue driving growth and creating long-term value in the US renewable power sector through the capable and experienced team at Terra-Gen, and we look forward to partnering with Masdar.”

The American deal is the latest expansion by Masdar in a global push to reach 100GW of installed capacity by 2030, around five times its current level.

Masdar has developed and invested in renewable energy projects in over 40 countries since 2006 with a combined capacity of over 20GW.

The deal furthers UAE’s commitment to the US market, including a $20bn pledge to fund 15GW of clean energy capacity by 2035.