BlackRock, the private equity investor, has acquired a 20% stake in utility-scale solar and energy storage developer and operator Recurrent Energy with a $500 million preferred equity investment. It is also the largest institutional investor in Recurrent parent Canadian Solar. 

BlackRock has invested this money through a fund managed by its Climate Infrastructure Business. Canadian Solar will continue to own the remaining majority shares of its subsidiary once the investment achieves regulatory closure. 

This happens to be BlackRock’s 2nd major investment in renewable energy this year. Earlier this year, it raised its total stake in Israeli solar inverter company SolarEdge to 15.8% (see SolarEdge Announces Restructuring Plan To Cut Costs). 

Recurrent touts a development pipeline of 26 GW in solar and 55 GWh in storage, out of which 13 GW and 12 GWh are projects with interconnections. It expects to realize 4 GW of solar and 2 GWh of storage capacity in the US and Europe by 2026. 

The Canadian Solar subsidiary expects this additional capital flow to grow its high value project development pipeline. It will support the company’s transition from a pure developer to a developer plus long-term owner and operator of projects in select markets, including the US and Europe. 

The transaction covers projects in the US, Canada, Spain, Italy, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, South Africa, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan; and excludes Canadian Solar’s project development business in Japan and China, and certain assets in Latin America and Taiwan, according to the developer. 

Recurrent stated, “This transition is expected to create a more diversified portfolio and provide more stable long-term revenue in low-risk currencies and enable Recurrent Energy to create and retain greater value in its own project development pipeline.”