Nov 21, 2019   SOURCE: BusinessWire

Macquarie’s Green Investment Group Integrates Savion Acquisition, Commercializes 1 GW of Renewable Energy in North America

The Green Investment Group Limited (GIG) today announced that one year following establishment in the US, it has built a national development pipeline of over 10 GW and commercialized over 1 GW of new renewable energy projects via PPAs or sales in North America.

GIG is a specialist in green infrastructure principal investment, project delivery and the management of portfolio assets and related services and a subsidiary of Macquarie Group Limited (Macquarie).

Through development subsidiaries and partners, GIG has created a national solar and storage platform focused on connecting US corporates with renewable power through GIG-developed assets.

Transaction Closing and integration of Savion

Savion is one of the largest utility-scale solar and energy storage project development companies in the US with industry-leading enterprise and site evaluation systems. Savion’s project pipeline includes over 8 GW of solar and energy storage development projects.

Based in Kansas City, Mo., Savion was previously part of Tradewind Energy, Inc., a subsidiary of Enel Power North America, and was acquired by GIG in August 2019. The team consists of over 65 employees, led by Rob Freeman and Geoff Coventry, two of the original founders of Tradewind, and is currently developing projects in more than 25 states.

Commercialized 1GW of Green Energy Assets

The addition of Savion, combined with other key partnerships, has helped GIG form a solar and storage strategy in which it will provide US based corporates with reliable and cost competitive renewable power from newly developed solar projects through power purchase agreements. This places GIG at the heart of the fast-growing US renewable energy PPA market.

GIG’s other recent partnerships in building a national US solar development platform include a joint venture with Austin, Texas-based Core Solar LLC with a development pipeline of 2 GW, and the 2018 launch of Candela Renewables, a new developer of utility-scale solar and storage power projects. San Francisco-based Candela develops assets exclusively for GIG.

Through these platforms alone, GIG has already commercialized over 1GW of new renewable energy projects. This includes:

  • A 109 MW solar energy PPA with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC, a subsidiary of Occidental, through the Core Solar partnership
  • Two 75 MW solar energy PPAs with Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc. through the Savion platform
  • In August, GIG and Core Solar completed the development of a 200 MW solar project with a 2020 operations date prior to its sale to a load-serving entity in Texas
  • In September, GIG agreed to sell two Savion-developed solar generating projects to a Subsidiary of Dominion Energy. T-Mobile USA, Inc. will receive the long- term power and renewable energy credits.

“The GIG team in North America has strong conviction in the growth fundamentals of solar over both the short and long term given current low penetration rates, favorable solar resource and abundance of land combined with the increasingly competitive cost of solar compared to alternative energy sources,” said Chris Archer, Head of Americas at the Green Investment Group. “We will continue to develop and expand our project pipeline and seek to partner with utilities and corporate clients with an interest in acquiring renewable energy assets or low-cost renewable energy.”

In addition to the national solar strategy, GIG also successfully completed construction of its first onshore windfarm in North America, the 200 MW Canadian Breaks project in Texas.

GIG’s operations in North America are complemented by the global growth of the business which is pursuing a 20 GW pipeline of renewable energy development projects across wind and solar. Since 2010, Macquarie and GIG, which was acquired in 2017, has helped finance more than 22 GW of generation capacity in onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, thermal, hydro, waste-to-energy, storage and energy management projects, investing or arranging over $A8 billion in FY19 in projects around the world.

About the Green Investment Group and Macquarie Group

Green Investment Group Limited (GIG) is a specialist in green infrastructure principal investment, project delivery and the management of portfolio assets, and related services. Its track record, expertise and capability make it a global leader in green investment, dedicated to supporting the growth of the global green economy.

The business was launched initially by the UK Government in 2012 as the first institution of its type in the world. The organization was acquired by Macquarie Group in 2017, creating one of Europe’s largest teams of dedicated green infrastructure investors, and now operates under the name Green Investment Group.

Macquarie Group Limited (Macquarie) is a diversified financial group providing clients with asset management and finance, banking, advisory and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities. Founded in 1969, Macquarie employs 15,715 people in 30 markets. At September 30, 2019, Macquarie had assets under management of $380.2 billion.

For more information, visit www.greeninvestmentgroup.com and www.macquarie.com.