Center stage at Smart Energy Finances this week is the closing of an acquisition by CPower. The DER company acquired Centrica’s demand response division, increasing their DER capacity from 5.6 GW to 6.3 GW.
Other notable stories include RWE’s $6.8 billion energy acquisition of Con Edison business assets, the European expansion of an online renewable asset trading platform, a new electric vehicle (EV) initiative from SMS to ease financial constraints for the UK business and acquiring IIoT from an energy technology designer.
CPower is closing Centrica getting a response to the search
CPower Energy Management completed the acquisition of the US response to demand a division of Centrica Business Solutions, unlocking an additional 700 MW of Distributed Energy Resource (DER) capacity at more than 17,000 sites — to drive grid balancing and energy flexibility.
The acquisition, which was originally announced in July this year, increases the company’s DER capacity from 5.6 GW to 6.3 GW.
CPower helps DER owners with flexible capacity in a variety of industries, including retail, commercial real estate, data centers, crypto mining sites, education, healthcare and government, as well as manufacturing. Their services aim to help customers earn revenue for participating in demand response solutions that power the grid.
After the transaction closes, Centrica’s previous consumer service customers will join CPower and be able to take advantage of the company’s industry expertise and technology to support their energy portfolios in the US.
These same customers now have access to CPower’s solutions and AI-powered technology, EnerWiseTM Site Optimization, which automates both energy market assets and utility programs.
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RWEacquisition of a $6.8 billion energy business
Consolidated Edison, Inc. agreed to sell its stake in its wholly owned subsidiary, Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, Inc. and its subsidiaries (clean energy companies) to RWE Renewables Americas, LLC, a subsidiary of RWE Aktiengesellschaft (RWE).
The transaction is valued at $6.8 billion, subject to customary closing conditions, including, among other things, the expiration or early termination of a waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as as amended and approved by the Committee on Foreign Relations Investments in the United States and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The deal is no subject to funding condition and expected to close in the first half of 2023.
In light of the pending transaction, Con Edison intends to abandon its previously announced plan to issue up to $850 million of common equity in 2022 and withdraw its equity guidance for 2023 and 2024.
Con Edison was represented by Barclays as financial advisor and Latham & Watkins, LLP as legal advisor.
Also of interest:
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SMS is decreasing EV financial barriers to UK business
Energy solutions business, SMS plc, has launched a comprehensive EV charging point infrastructure solution to help UK organizations build, manage and grow their EV charging networks at scale.
The new service offers businesses looking to invest and monetize EV charging point assets a full lifecycle proposition, from initial consultation and electrical infrastructure design to technology delivery, installation and operation and maintenance.
SMS will provide its charging point solutions as a fully funded or partially funded service, aiming to help significantly reduce the financial barriers organizations face in deploying the technology at scale.
In partnership with a charging point operator (CPO) and software as a service (SaaS), Clenergy EV, SMS will also offer access to charge point management software that enables organizations to manage and monitor all aspects of their business charging network through an Open Charge Point Protocol (OCPP) compliant platform.
The online platform for renewable assets expands in Europe
LevelTen Energy, a provider of renewable transaction infrastructure, has announced the European expansion of LevelTen Asset Marketplace, an online platform for buying and selling renewable energy assets.
LevelTen Asset Marketplace plans to bring together the world’s largest collection of renewable energy project developers and asset investors, providing software, analytics and expertise to quickly buy and sell projects in development.
Customers such as Aura Power, Black Mountain Energy Storage, Cypress Creek Renewables, Iberdrola, Lightrock Power and Sol Systems already use the LevelTen Asset Marketplace to secure and monetize pre-construction renewable energy projects.
The platform aims to speed up acquisition and sale processes that are otherwise slow, manual and time-consuming and require internal networks or expensive brokers.
It works by enabling sellers to find the most suitable partner for their assets by reaching out to Europe’s renewable energy network, maximizing asset exposure to qualified buyers and investors.
The marketplace will also help investors scale their M&A, and LevelTen’s M&A team will facilitate contract negotiations.
For project sellers, LevelTen will upload project details to the Asset Marketplace and conduct marketing to its extensive developer network. Entities looking to acquire projects can view available listings or request proposals through the platform.
Previous editions of Smart Energy Finances:
Germany’s €200 billion shield amid explosive market turmoil
Procurement for decarbonisation is moving up the ESG agenda
Generac IIoT acquisition
Power technology designer Generac Power Systems has acquired Blue Pillar, an industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is a platform developer that designs, implements and manages industrial IoT networking software solutions to enable monitoring and control of distributed energy generation.
With the acquisition of Blue Pillar, Generac stated its goal to further integrate the IoT platform into its power generation products and, in conjunction with Generac Grid Services projects, provide valuable monitoring and control as an embedded feature.
“Monitoring and control capabilities are integral to reducing dependence on the power grid, managing energy consumption and associated costs, and improving overall equipment performance,” said Eric Wilde, executive vice president of Industrial – Americas at Generac .
“Blue Pillar simplifies IoT process that makes it easier to meet customers’ connectivity needs.”
The acquisition closed on October 3, 2022.
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cheers,
Yusuf Latief
content producer, Smart Energy International
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Smart Energy Finances: CPower closes Centrica demand response acquisition
