Sunrise brief: Partners announce $2b investment in utility-scale solar and wind

Talen Energy said it entered into a joint venture with Pattern Energy Group to invest $2 billion over the next five years to develop, finance, build, and operate roughly 1.4 GW of utility-scale renewable energy projects.

The initial project portfolio for the venture, known as PT Energy Transitions, includes six solar facilities in Pennsylvania and a hybrid solar and wind facility in the western U.S.

The joint venture expands on Talen and Pattern Energy’s first joint development project, Montour Solar One, a 100 MW solar power plant to be built adjacent to Talen’s fossil generating station in Washingtonville, Pennsylvania. That solar capacity is expected to enter service in 2022.

BESS for Hydro-Québec

EVLO Energy Storage said it will deploy a 4 MW / 20 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) on the Hydro-Québec grid based on the lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology.

The system will be deployed as part of the work being carried out on a transmission line and will supply a remote community’s residential and commercial customers for the duration of the work.

The BESS will be the largest such deployment in Quebec. Once work on the transmission line is completed, the system will remain in place to manage peaks on the grid and serve as an auxiliary source in the event of an outage.

System components will be delivered this fall and the system is expected to be in service by spring 2022. As part of the project, EVLO will provide software for remote operation and management activities.

EVLO will also soon deliver two other storage systems: one 2 MW system in La Prairie, Québec, as part of a solar generating station project, and a 9 MW system in Joux-la-Ville, France, as part of the Tonnerre project in collaboration with Innergex.

Green bank bonds

The Connecticut Green Bank announced its 2021 Green Liberty Bond issuance, which is anticipated to be available to retail and institutional investors this month. Green Liberty Bonds are lower-dollar denomination bonds (offered in $1,000 increments), making it easier for individual investors to consider an investment. Bond proceeds are independently certified as having financed infrastructure projects with climate and environmental benefits that will help strengthen our state’s green energy economy and create much needed jobs.

The Connecticut Green Bank was established by the Connecticut General Assembly in 2011 as the nation’s first green bank. This is the Green Bank’s second Green Liberty Bond release, and builds upon the success of the July 2020 issuance, which raised $16.8 million from retail and institutional investors.

The bonds are modeled after the World War II Series-E bonds. More information is available here.

Fund launched for cleantech startups

Energy Transition Ventures (ETV) said it launched a venture fund to invest in energy transition technologies. The Texas firm was started by cleantech startup execs and venture capitalists Craig Lawrence and Neal Dikeman, and has anchor investment from two operating companies of the GS Group of South Korea.

Investments will focus on North American companies driving or benefitting from the energy transition off fossil fuels, across categories including distributed energy, electrification, mobility, and resource efficiency. ETV said it closed its first capital in February this year, completed its first investment in March, and is expected to close new investors for a total fund size of $75 million. The firm will co-locate a Silicon Valley office with GS Futures.

The firm also said that Jon Wellinghoff, former chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Deb Merril, president of EDF Retail and co-founder and former co-CEO of Just Energy, joined as advisors. GS Energy executive Q Song moves from Seoul, South Korea, to join the Houston ETV team.