Justin Paget/DigitalVision via Getty Images A sector-wide push among North American renewable energy companies to capture soaring power demand by expanding beyond traditional wind, solar and storage projects is fueling a new wave of acquisitions. The industry has been an attractive target for private equity and infrastructure investors in recent years due to lackluster returns on investment and we...
Justin Paget/DigitalVision via Getty Images A sector-wide push among North American renewable energy companies to capture soaring power demand by expanding beyond traditional wind, solar and storage projects is fueling a new wave of acquisitions. The industry has been an attractive target for private equity and infrastructure investors in recent years due to lackluster returns on investment and weaker public market valuations, but the race to serve AI customers is driving an urgent need for deeper pockets of capital, experts told Platts, a part of S&P Global Energy. "You're seeing more traditionally pure-play renewables companies looking to expand their capabilities outside of their core businesses to capture AI power demand," Brett Castelli, a senior energy and utilities analyst at Morningstar, said in an interview, citing solar tracking system supplier Nextpower Inc.'s ( NXT ) move into inverters. On the developer side, "big and serious" firms are "trying to reposition their business around adding behind-the-meter gas deals and … powered land," Marathon Capital LLC co-founder and CEO Ted Brandt said in an interview, referring to the business of providing large-load customers with generation, land and grid access. In addition to Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. ( BAM ) and La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec's recent agreement to take Canadian independent power producer Boralex Inc. ( BRLXF ) private for C$3.8 billion, and the long-awaited acquisition of AES Corp. ( AES ) by a BlackRock Inc.- ( BLK ) and EQT AB-led ( EQBBF ) consortium for $10.7 billion announced in March, hyperscalers have also entered the market. Alphabet Inc. ( GOOGL ) subsidiary Google LLC became the first hyperscaler to buy an IPP, closing a $4.75 billion deal for Intersect Power LLC from global asset manager TPG Inc. ( TPG ) in March after announcing the transaction in January. The buyers of Intersect Power and AES are getting both companies' experience in developing, owning and operati...
Surging energy costs due to the war in the Middle East are the latest reminder for Europe to urgently reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, one of the European Central Bank ’s top officials wrote in an op-ed published by the Financial Times. The continent’s energy dependence has become a critical vulnerability, according to Executive Board member Frank Elderson . Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 202...
Surging energy costs due to the war in the Middle East are the latest reminder for Europe to urgently reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, one of the European Central Bank ’s top officials wrote in an op-ed published by the Financial Times. The continent’s energy dependence has become a critical vulnerability, according to Executive Board member Frank Elderson . Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 exposed its weakness, and the reaction of oil and gas prices to fighting in and around Iran has highlighted “how little this dependence has changed.” “Europe cannot eliminate geopolitical risk, but it can significantly reduce its exposure to it,” Elderson, a strong climate advocate, wrote. “The most effective way to do that is by cutting reliance on imported fossil fuels and accelerating an orderly shift to home‑grown clean energy.” He added that if Europe were to meet its green-energy targets, “the link between domestic energy prices and volatile global energy markets would weaken substantially.” The euro area saw its steepest jump in inflation since 2022 last month after the Iran war pushed energy costs sharply higher. Policymakers including President Christine Lagarde have signaled they’re ready to respond should expectations for future gains start spiraling. Traders are betting on at least two interest-rate hikes this year. Villeroy Says Economy Now Closer to ECB’s Adverse Scenario Sleijpen Says ECB Discussion Will Be Rate Hike or Hold: Podcast ECB’s Panetta Says Even If Iran War Ends Damage Has Been Done Elderson argued that repeated energy-price shocks make it “increasingly difficult” for the ECB to reliably deliver inflation at its 2% target. ECB staff estimated that in a severe scenario, inflation in the 21-nation euro zone would surge past 6%, while the economy slips into a recession this year. The adoption of domestically produced, clean and sustainable energy would strengthen macroeconomic stability, lower long‑term costs, support growth, deliver health benefit...
The health secretary and the BMA trade accusations over who bears responsibility for the collapse of talks Good morning. Resident doctors in English hospitals started a six-day strike at 7am this morning. Many of them will continue to work, but there will be enough of them joining the strike to have a significant impact on the care hospitals can deliver. It is the 15th resident doctors (who used t...
The health secretary and the BMA trade accusations over who bears responsibility for the collapse of talks Good morning. Resident doctors in English hospitals started a six-day strike at 7am this morning. Many of them will continue to work, but there will be enough of them joining the strike to have a significant impact on the care hospitals can deliver. It is the 15th resident doctors (who used to be known as junior doctors) have been on stage since they launched a campaign in 2023 to get their pay back to the equivalent level it used to be before austerity kicked in after the financial crash. This morning Wes Streeting , the health secretary, deployed a new statistic in his PR battle against the BMA, the doctors’ union organised the strikes. He confirmed a figure highlighted in the Daily Mail’s splash saying strikes by resident doctors have now cost the country £3bn. We think that strikes cost £50m a day. And so that is, an accurate reflection of the cost of these strikes. What is true is that in order to deliver a full pay restoration back to 2008 levels, using the RPI account of inflation, it would cost in the order of £3bn a year. Let’s then assume that other NHS staff would understandably demand the same. Then that cost would be more like £30bn a year. That is more than the entire cost of the Ministry of Justice’s entire budget for running the criminal justice system. Continue reading...