Smart Energy Finances: CPower closes Centrica demand response acquisition
Centre stage in this week’s Smart Energy Finances is the closing of an acquisition by CPower. The DER company has acquired Centrica’s demand response division, bolstering their DER capacity from 5.6GW to 6.3GW.
Other stories of note include RWE’s $6.8 billion energy acquisition of Con Edison business assets, expansion into Europe of an online renewable asset trading platform, a new electric vehicle (EV) initiative from SMS to ease financial constraints for UK businesses and an IIoT acquisition by an energy tech designer.
CPower closes Centrica demand response acquisition
CPower Energy Management has completed the acquisition of the US demand response division of Centrica Business Solutions, unlocking an additional 700MW of distributed energy resource (DER) capacity across more than 17,000 sites — to drive grid balancing and energy flexibility.
The acquisition, which was originally announced in July this year, takes the company’s DER capacity up from 5.6GW to 6.3GW in capacity.
CPower helps DER owners with flexible capacity across industries, including big box retail, commercial real estate, data centers, crypto mining sites, education, healthcare and government, and manufacturing. Their services aim to help customers earn revenue for participating in demand response solutions that bolster the grid.
Upon the close of the transaction, previous Centrica demand response customers will join CPower and will be able to tap the company’s industry expertise and technology to support their energy portfolios across the US.
These same customers now have access to CPower’s solutions and AI-powered technology, EnerWiseTM Site Optimization, which automates energy assets across the energy market and utility programs simultaneously.
Also of interest:
Siemens enables complete digital model for largest US TSO’s physical grid
Siemens partners with storage solutions developer on next gen supercapacitors
RWE’s $6.8bn energy business acquisition
Consolidated Edison, Inc. has agreed to sell its interest in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Con Edison Clean Energy Businesses, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the Clean Energy Businesses) 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, expiration or early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended and approvals by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The transaction is not subject to a financing condition and is expected to close in the first half of 2023.
In light of the pending transaction, Con Edison intends to forego its previously announced plan to issue up to $850 million of common equity in 2022 and withdraws 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:
RWE commits to early coal phase-out, but at what cost?
Investing in green energy innovation in Rotterdam
SMS lowers EV financial barriers for UK businesses
Energy solutions business, SMS plc, has launched an end-to-end EV chargepoint infrastructure solution to help UK organisations establish, manage and grow their EV charging networks at scale.
The new service offers businesses looking to invest in and monetise EV chargepoint assets a full life cycle proposition, from initial consultancy and design of electrical infrastructure through to technology procurement, installation and operation and maintenance.
SMS will deliver its chargepoint solutions as a fully funded or part-funded service, aiming to help significantly lower the financial barrier organisations face when deploying the technology at scale.
In partnership with charge point operator (CPO) and software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, Clenergy EV, SMS will also offer access to chargepoint management software that allows organisations to manage and monitor all aspects of their business charging network via an open charge point protocol (OCPP)-compliant platform.
Renewables asset online platform expands into Europe
LevelTen Energy, provider of renewable transaction infrastructure, announced the European expansion of the LevelTen Asset Marketplace, an online platform for buying and selling renewable energy assets.
The LevelTen Asset Marketplace plans to bring together the world’s largest collection of renewable energy project developers and asset investors, delivering the software, analytics and expertise to quickly buy and sell projects under development.
Clients such as Aura Power, Black Mountain Energy Storage, Cypress Creek Renewables, Iberdrola, Lightrock Power and Sol Systems are already using the LevelTen Asset Marketplace to procure and monetise pre-construction renewable energy projects.
The platform aims to speed up the acquisition and divestment processes, which are otherwise slow, manual and time-consuming, requiring insider networks or expensive brokers.
It works by allowing sellers to find the most suitable partner for their assets by reaching the renewable energy network in Europe, maximising asset exposure to qualified buyers and investors.
The Marketplace will also help investors increase their M&A pipeline and LevelTen’s M&A team will facilitate contract negotiations.
For project sellers, LevelTen will upload details about the project on the Asset Marketplace and conduct marketing to its broad network of developers. Entities seeking to acquire projects can browse available listings, or request proposals through the platform.
Previous editions of Smart Energy Finances:
Germany’s €200bn shield amid explosive market turmoil
Decarbonisation purchasing moves up the ESG agenda
Generac IIoT acquisition
Energy tech designer Generac Power Systems has acquired Blue Pillar, an Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) platform developer that designs, deploys and manages Industrial IoT network software solutions to enable distributed energy generation monitoring and control.
By acquiring Blue Pillar, Generac has stated its aim to further integrate the IoT platform into its power generation products and, in connection with Generac Grid Services’ projects, provide valuable monitoring and control as a built-in feature.
“Monitoring and control capabilities are integral to reducing reliance on the power grid, managing energy consumption and associated costs, as well as improving the overall performance of equipment,” stated Erik Wilde, executive vice president of Industrial – Americas at Generac.
“Blue Pillar simplifies the IoT process, making 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
