Macquarie&#39;s GIG commercialises 1 GW US renewables within a year

The Macquarie Group's renewable energy infrastructure subsidiary, the Green Investment Group (GIG), has commercialised 1 GW of projects in North America since launching in the US a year ago. These include a 109 MW solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, two 75 MW PPAs with Central Electric Power Cooperative and the completion of a 200 MW project with Core Solar. The 1 GW milestone was reached after acquiring utility-scale solar and energy storage firm Savion and its 8 GW project pipeline, which in turn has pushed GIG's national development pipeline to over 10 GW.

GIG, a subsidiary of the Macquarie, has announced that it has commercialised over 1 GW of new renewable energy projects via PPAs or sales in North America.

The Green Investment Group (GIG), a subsidiary of the Macquarie Group, has announced that one year following the establishment in the US, it has built a national development pipeline of over 10 GW and commercialised over 1 GW of new renewable energy projects via PPAs or sales in North America.

GIG is a specialist in green infrastructure principal investment, project delivery and the management of portfolio assets and related services. Through development subsidiaries and partners, GIG has created a national solar and storage platform focused on connecting US corporates with renewable power through GIG-developed assets.

The group reached the landmark of 1 GW renewable energy in the continent after finalising the acquisition of Savion. The firm is one of the largest utility-scale solar and energy storage project development companies in the US with industry-leading enterprise and site evaluation systems.

Savion’s project pipeline includes over 8 GW of solar and energy storage development projects. Based in Kansas City, Savion was previously part of Tradewind Energy, Inc., a subsidiary of Enel Power North America, and was acquired by GIG in August 2019.

The addition of Savion, combined with other key partnerships, has helped GIG form a solar and storage strategy in which it will provide US-based corporates with reliable and cost-competitive renewable power from newly developed solar projects through power purchase agreements. This places GIG at the heart of the fast-growing US renewable energy PPA market.

GIG’s other recent partnerships in building a national US solar development platform include a joint venture with Austin, Texas-based Core Solar LLC with a development pipeline of 2 GW, and the 2018 launch of Candela Renewables, a new developer of utility-scale solar and storage power projects. San Francisco-based Candela develops assets exclusively for GIG.

Through these platforms alone, GIG has already commercialised over 1 GW of new renewable energy projects. This includes:

A 109 MW solar energy PPA with Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, LLC, a subsidiary of Occidental, through the Core Solar partnership

Two 75 MW solar energy PPAs with Central Electric Power Cooperative Inc. through the Savion platform

In August, GIG and Core Solar completed the development of a 200 MW solar project with a 2020 operations date prior to its sale to a load-serving entity in Texas

In September, GIG agreed to sell two Savion-developed solar generating projects to a Subsidiary of Dominion Energy. T-Mobile USA, Inc. will receive the long- term power and renewable energy credits.

“The GIG team in North America has strong conviction in the growth fundamentals of solar over both the short and long term given current low penetration rates, favourable solar resource, and abundance of land combined with the increasingly competitive cost of solar compared to alternative energy sources,” said Chris Archer, head of Americas at the GIG. “We will continue to develop and expand our project pipeline and seek to partner with utilities and corporate clients with an interest in acquiring renewable energy assets or low-cost renewable energy.”

In addition to the national solar strategy, GIG also successfully completed the construction of its first onshore wind farm in North America, the 200 MW Canadian Breaks project in Texas.

GIG’s operations in North America are complemented by the global growth of the business which is pursuing a 20 GW pipeline of renewable energy development projects across the wind and solar.