Aspen Power Partners, a distributed generation platform focused on decarbonisation, has secured a $350m investment from funds managed by private investment firm Carlyle.
The company will use the investment to support its organic and acquisition-driven growth strategy that targets solar and storage markets.
As part of its strategy, Aspen has acquired Safari Energy, a provider of solar energy solutions, from Pennsylvania-based energy company PPL.
Aspen co-founder and CFO Jackson Lehr said: “The Carlyle investment and Safari transaction provide a clear path forward for our team to execute a step-change in the scale of our impact.”
Carlyle Infrastructure Group chief investment officer Pooja Goyal said: “We are very excited about our partnership with Aspen and look forward to facilitating the growth of their business into a distributed generation platform of scale.”
Established in 2008, Safari has more than 600 commercial and industrial (C&I) solar projects, across 24 states and Washington, DC.
Safari’s projects have generated more than 893,000MWh of electricity, eliminating the equivalent of more than 632,000 metric tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Aspen has acquired Safari’s entire development portfolio, including 220MW of operating and under-construction distributed generation solar assets.
The transaction combines Safari’s platform and assets with Aspen’s community solar portfolios and multifamily solar pipeline.
It will create a diversified distributed generation independent power producer, well positioned to provide advanced and flexible solutions to the solar and storage marketplace.
Aspen co-founder and CEO Jorge E Vargas said: “We want to thank our existing investors Ultra Capital, Lombard Odier, Redball Ventures, and Two Seven Ventures for supporting our growth to date and welcome the Carlyle team as our partners for this next stage of growth.”
Carlyle renewable and sustainable energy team managing director JB Oldenburg said: “We are thrilled to support Aspen at this inflection point and believe the platform is well-positioned to benefit from the transformational shift we see in decarbonizing the economy.
“Our investment in Aspen is a commitment to accelerating the widespread accessibility and availability of solar and storage, which we believe is accretive to our portfolio by supporting this decade’s ambitious renewable energy and climate change targets.”
