Standard Solar and Scout Clean Energy acquired by Brookfield Renewable

Brookfield Renewable has agreed to acquire Standard Solar and Scout Clean Energy, helping both renewable energy leaders to move into the next phase of their development.

Brookfield Renewable announced the closing of its acquisition of Standard Solar for consideration of $540 million with the potential to invest an additional $160 million to support the business’ growth initiatives. Standard Solar is a developer, owner and operator of commercial and community distributed solar, with approximately 500 MW of operating and under construction contracted assets. The company also has a development pipeline of almost 2 GW and a presence in high value solar markets in the U.S., such as New York, Maryland, Minnesota and Maine. Standard Solar is also strong in the community solar market, recently completing a 7.1 MW project in New York.

“Through this acquisition, which provides additional large-scale access to capital, Standard Solar is poised for massive growth, enabling us to contribute in an even more significant way to the clean energy transition,” said Scott Wiater, president and CEO of Standard Solar. “We’re looking forward to joining the Brookfield Renewable portfolio, one of the world’s largest renewable energy platforms. Our two companies share a mutual passion for renewables and company cultures that recognize and amplify excellence and equity – we are the ideal match.”

The company has also agreed to acquire Scout Clean Energy for $1 billion with the potential to invest an additional $350 million to support the business’ development activities. Scout’s portfolio includes over 1.2 GW of operating wind assets, including 4 GW managed on behalf of third parties, and a pipeline of over 22 GW of wind, solar and storage projects across 24 states, including almost 2.5 GW of under construction and advanced-stage projects. Last year Scout Clean Energy acquired the $400m Blue Sky Project, which followed closely on the heels of the company’s announced purchase of a 112 MW solar project in Missouri.

“Scout is pleased to be sponsored going forward by an industry-leading partner to help Scout continue to grow our rapidly expanding pipeline of wind, solar and battery storage projects across the United States,” said Michael Rucker, CEO and founder of Scout Clean Energy. “With the recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, we believe now is the right time for Scout to move into our next phase of expansion with a highly respected and experienced partner, like Brookfield Renewable.”

Both Scout and Standard Solar will continue to operate as independent businesses within the Brookfield Renewable U.S. platform. The transactions will be invested through the Brookfield Global Transition Fund I, which has raised $15 billion to invest across a range of transition opportunities.

“We underwrote both transactions without the benefit of the Inflation Reduction Act so the additional incentives now available represent a significant boost to each business,” said Connor Teskey, CEO of Brookfield Renewable. “Our development pipeline in the United States is now close to 60,000 MW and is well diversified across wind, utility-scale solar, distributed generation, and energy storage. Combined with our existing fleet we are well positioned for continued growth as owners and operators of one of the largest diversified clean power businesses in the country.”

The Scout and Standard Solar acquisitions follow a string of recent clean energy investments by Brookfield Renewable in North America during 2022, including a $650 million acquisition of Urban Grid, and the exclusive right to invest up to $750 million on a project by project basis with Entropy, and a joint venture with California Resource Corporation, two leading carbon capture and sequestration platforms in Alberta and California, respectively. Altogether, the Brookfield Global Transition Fund has invested or allocated $3.5 billion for clean energy investments and follow-on capital in North America in 2022.