Brookfield Renewable acquires 2 US developers for a combined $1.54B

Brookfield Renewable Partners LP entered into agreements to acquire two renewable energy development platforms in separate deals totaling $1.54 billion.

In one of two transactions announced Sept. 29, Brookfield Renewable will acquire Scout Clean Energy LLC from Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners Pty. Ltd. for $1 billion in cash, pledging also to invest up to $350 million to support its development activities.

Headquartered in Boulder, Colo., Scout Clean Energy's portfolio includes more than 1,200 MW of operating wind assets, with 400 MW managed on behalf of third parties, Quinbrook said in a Sept. 29 news release. The company also has a development pipeline of more than 22,000 MW of wind, solar and energy storage projects across 24 states, including almost 2,500 MW under construction or in advanced stages of development, the release said.

Separately, Brookfield Renewable closed the acquisition of Rockville, Md.-based distributed solar developer Standard Solar Inc. for $540 million and could potentially invest $160 million to support its growth. Standard Solar has approximately 500 MW of operational and under-construction contracted assets and an almost 2,000-MW development pipeline. In August, Brookfield Renewable announced that it struck a deal to buy an unnamed integrated distributed generation developer in the U.S. for $700 million.

The transactions will be invested through Brookfield Global Transition Fund I, which has raised more than $15 billion to invest in energy transition opportunities. In addition, Scout Clean Energy and Standard Solar will both also continue to operate as independent businesses, Brookfield Renewable said.

"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," Brookfield Renewable CEO Connor Teskey said. "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."

In a separate news release, Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners said that BofA Securities Inc. was its lead financial adviser and KeyBanc Capital Markets Inc. was its financial adviser on the Scout Clean Energy deal. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP was Quinbrook's legal counsel.

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