On Wednesday, global alternative assets investor Carlyle Group announced that it is investing $374 million in Canada’s Amp Solar Group, a global energy transition platform.
Equity capital for the transaction has been committed from Carlyle‘s Global Infrastructure Opportunity Fund and Carlyle’s Renewable & Sustainable Energy Fund.
Amp Energy is a global renewable energy infrastructure manager, developer and owner. Since 2009, the Company has successfully developed over 1.8 gigawatts of distributed and utility-scale renewable generation projects, hybrid generation plus storage projects, and stand-alone battery storage projects around the world.
Amp X
Besides its various utility-scale infrastructure projects, Amp Energy’s digital energy platform, Amp X, provides disruptive and interoperable solutions for power grid modernization (including a proprietary smart transformer), that enable real-time autonomous voltage management and optimized dispatch of all forms of distributed generation and loads across the utility grid.
Here, Carlyle’s investment will support the continued rapid growth of both Amp’s asset base and Amp X in the company’s core markets of North America, Japan, Australia, Iberia and the UK.
In an official statement, Pooja Goyal, Head of Carlyle’s Renewable and Sustainable Energy team and Co-Head of Carlyle’s Infrastructure group said, “This transaction demonstrates Carlyle’s continued focus on identifying and executing upon attractive investment opportunities such as solar projects and battery storage technologies around the world that are being propelled by the energy transition. We see significant value in working with proven management teams through differentiated development platforms with significant global reach such as Amp Energy.”
Dave Rogers, President and CEO of Amp Energy said, “We are pleased to partner with Carlyle, a world-class investment firm that truly understands and values our growth vision. This investment validates Amp’s position as a leading global energy transition platform, and we believe Carlyle’s extensive global experience and network will help expedite our growth strategies to accelerate the energy transition around the world.”
Recent Japan expansion
Late last month, Amp Energy’s Japanese subsidiary, Amp Japan, announced that it had received JPY 7.3 billion ($70.6 million) in structured financing from Deutsche Bank’s Tokyo and London branches for the acquisition of a 20MW solar PV park on the Japanese island of Kyushu. The asset benefits from a 20-year feed-in tariff under Japan’s renewable energy regime supporting the developing of renewable energy projects across the country.
In operation since 2009, Amp is one of the world’s leading renewable energy companies, having successfully developed over 1.8 GW of distributed and utility-scale renewable generation projects, hybrid generation plus storage projects, and stand-alone battery storage projects around the world, and another 2.0 GW and 2.2 GWh of assets in late-stage development or construction.
Based in Toronto, Canada, Amp also has operations throughout North America, Japan, Australia, India, the U.K., Iberia and Czech Republic.
