BlackRock’s Renewable Power Group has announced an investment in CleanCapital, a clean energy investment platform co-founded by the Obama administration’s chief sustainability officer, Jon Powers.
The investment provides for the continued growth of CleanCapital as it expands into new markets and new renewable energy asset classes, with a specific focus on distributed solar and energy storage.
“The investment from BlackRock’s Renewable Power Group will accelerate CleanCapital’s investment in clean energy, allowing us to enter new asset classes, like energy storage, and expand into new markets,” explains Thomas Byrne, CEO and co-founder of CleanCapital. “With this investment, we will continue to build out our portfolio and do what we do best: use our proprietary underwriting tools and software to quickly evaluate assets and efficiently close acquisitions.”
In November, CleanCapital partnered with BlackRock to close a 46.9 MW portfolio of solar assets from Ahana Renewables, a subsidiary of ATN International Inc.
Launched in 2015 by Powers, Byrne and Marc Garrett, CleanCapital currently owns and manages $300 million of distributed operating solar energy assets in the U.S. for a combined capacity of more than 100 MW.
“As the clean energy space evolves, the distributed generation sector is expanding and plays an increasingly important role in the U.S. energy transition,” says Martin Torres, head of the Americas for BlackRock’s Renewable Power Group. “This partnership allows us to access CleanCapital’s platform capabilities as we seek to invest in the assets meeting the demand for clean energy while delivering value to our clients.”
