Blackstone has announced the formation of a new portfolio company, ClearGen to finance and own distributed and sustainable energy infrastructure assets.
The new company has been established by the global private equity firm through funds managed by GSO Capital Partners,
GSO Capital Partners, the global credit investment platform of Blackstone, will initially commit $250m to fund ClearGen.
The newly formed company will focus on commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
ClearGen co-founder and chief executive officer George Plattenburg said: “Energy consumers face a range of challenges, including cost and risk management and the reliability of supply that affects critical operations.
“When you combine these with a broad focus on de-carbonization, there is a rapidly growing need for ClearGen’s capital and expertise.”
GSO to expand its capital commitment to ClearGen
Following the deployment of initial capital, GSO plans to expand its funds committed to ClearGen, which will provide investments to its customers to develop or improve on-site energy infrastructure.
Alongside equipment manufacturers, developers and energy service companies, ClearGen and Blackstone are expected to capital solutions for to develop distributed infrastructure.
ClearGen is expected to invest in a range of assets, through the partnerships.
The investments will be made in microgrids, distributed generation, renewable energy combined with battery storage, energy efficiency investments, green transportation, and combined heat and power plants.
ClearGen co-founder and chief development officer Collin Franceschi said: “We are looking forward to partnerships with distributed generation developers and technology companies, and collaboratively developing flexible solutions to improve financing alternatives and increase adoption.
“ClearGen will finance a wide range of revenue streams and diverse customers to allow our partners to accelerate growth.”
In March, funds managed by Blackstone Energy Partners acquired NRStor C&I, which offers turn-key energy-as-a-service to commercial, industrial, institutional customers and utilities across North America.
The company was acquired from Fengate Asset Management (Fengate) and Lake Bridge Capital II.
