BlackRock Acquires Solar and Storage Portfolio from Excelsior Energy Capital
Renewable energy infrastructure investor Excelsior Energy Capital announced today the acquisition by BlackRock of a portfolio of 38 solar energy and battery storage projects.
According to Excelsior, the sale to BlackRock marks the firm’s first exit from its inaugural fund, Excelsior Renewable Energy Investment Fund I LP. Launched seven years ago, the fund attracted more than $500 million in capital commitments, and has invested in solar, wind, and battery storage projects across 10 U.S. states supproing the generation of more than 3,000 GWh of renewable energy annually.
The acquired project portfolio consists of operational solar and battery storage distributed generation projects with a total capacity of 89 MWDC.
Chris Moakley, Managing Partner of Excelsior said:
“This successful exit marks a proud milestone for the Excelsior team and validates our differentiated strategy for addressing North American renewable power generation.”
The portfolio acquisition was made by BlackRock’s Evergreen Infrastructure Partners Fund. Launched in June 2022, fund is a core, open-ended infrastructure equity fund that focuses on investing in infrastructure businesses in Europe and North America aligned with the themes of energy transition and energy security, in addition to a focus on thematic sectors including transportation, digital infrastructure and the circular economy. BlackRock recently announced that it has raised nearly $1 billion in client commitments at the initial close of the fund.
The acquisition marks the latest in a series of climate transition infrastructure-related moves by BlackRock, including the recent $12.5 billion acquisition by the firm of infrastructure investor GIP, and a $500 million investment in solar energy and energy storage developer Recurrent Energy. BlackRock described infrastructure as a major source of investment opportunity in its recent 2024 Private Markets Outlook, released in December, driven by the low-carbon transition as a key mega-theme, and highlighting an upcoming “massive reallocation of capital” to rewire energy systems around the world.
James Berner, Managing Director and Head of the Americas for BlackRock’s Evergreen Infrastructure Partners Fund said:
“We believe this diversified portfolio of long-term contracted commercial and industrial solar and storage projects represents an attractive platform investment for the core, open-ended Evergreen fund. This investment, sourced from a strong existing relationship across BlackRock Infrastructure with Excelsior, epitomizes the fund’s strategy of investing in long-dated infrastructure platforms with potential future growth well aligned with the energy transition and energy security.”