600 MW AC solar plant online: US-based solar and storage projects developer Vesper Energy has launched the commercial operations of its 745 MW DC/600 MW AC Hornet Solar Project in Texas. Equipped with more than 1.36 million solar modules, this Swisher County-located project is one of the largest single-phase solar installations in the country, according to Vesper. It is estimated to contribute over $100 million in new tax revenue to Swisher County. Vesper had earlier stated that this facility will monetize over $500 million of Production Tax Credits (PTC) for over 10 years. It is contracted to 4 offtake partners (see North America Solar PV News Snippets).
GW-scale RE JV: Renewable energy company Greening’s US subsidiary Greening USA has announced a joint venture for renewable energy projects with Atlantica Sustainable Infrastructure. While Greening USA will contribute its project pipeline of approximately 1 GW AC of solar and/or battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity to the partnership, Atlantica will contribute financial resources. They may decide to distribute assets between the 2 partners or sell them to a 3rd party, and add more to their pipeline in the future.
Apex sells partial stake in 251 MW: Apex Clean Energy has sold a part of the stake in 251 MW of its US renewable energy portfolio to the Electricity Generating Public Company Limited (EGCO Group). The latter will acquire a 49% stake in the Pinnacle II portfolio, which comprises 126 MW Downeast Wind Project and 125 MW AC Wheatsborough Solar in Ohio. “As our second major capital recycling transaction, this partnership will enable Apex to further invest in our best-in-class portfolio of wind, solar, and storage projects across the country,” said Apex CEO Ken Young.
$50 million for space solar power: Technology startup Aetherflux has closed a $50 million Series A round financing to invest in generating space solar power and supplying it to Earth. It plans to use small satellites with infrared lasers to send power to Earth, enabling high output and tiny ground stations. The financing round was led by Index Venture and Interlagos, and includes Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Vlad Tenev, Dan Gallagher, Jared Leto, Laurent and François-Paul Journe, and others. It has also secured funding from the US Department of Defense (DoD) under its Operational Energy Capability Improvement Fund (OECIF) to develop a proof of concept demonstrating power transmission from LEO. “We’re now focusing on subscale testing of core technologies, leading up to our Mission 1 power beaming demonstration from LEO in 2026,” stated the team.
TPG gets green signal for Altus acquisition: Distributed generation solar energy company Altus Power has secured the green signal from its stockholders to go ahead with the acquisition of the company by TPG. The latter has made the bid to acquire Altus through its TPG Rise Climate Transition Infrastructure strategy. The transaction will complete on April 16, 2025.
Altus has also separately announced the acquisition of a 58.4 MW development portfolio comprising 10 development-stage community solar projects from Prospect14. These projects will participate in the Maryland Community Solar Program. This will provide clean electricity to around 8,000 customers, including an allocation specifically for low-to-moderate income households. “Maryland’s energy market is facing mounting pressure as data centers and electric vehicles drive up demand for power, straining existing infrastructure and outpacing the buildout of transmission. This partnership helps to meet that demand with clean, renewable power, generated where the power is needed,” stated Altus.