US utility Duke Energy has agreed to divest its commercial distributed generation business to an affiliate of private equity firm ArcLight Capital Partners in a $364m deal.
The business includes Renewable Energy Corporation Solar’s operating assets, development pipeline, and operations and maintenance portfolio.
It also includes distributed fuel cell projects managed by Bloom Energy.
The acquired business’s staff will be retained. Duke Energy anticipates $259m of proceeds from the sale, which is currently awaiting regulatory clearance.
Duke Energy chair, president and CEO Lynn Good stated: “The sale of our commercial renewables businesses streamlines our portfolio and provides the resources to support the long-term needs of our customers in our growing regulated territories.
“Over the next decade, we plan to invest significant capital to fund the critical energy infrastructure necessary to serve our customers and support our clean energy transition.”
ArcLight Capital Partners managing director Marco Gatti stated: “Our investment in Duke Energy’s commercial distributed generation business supports ArcLight’s long-standing strategy of acquiring operating assets from leading strategics and creating strong stand-alone renewable platforms.
“We believe this is an attractive opportunity to acquire a first-rate commercial distributed generation portfolio, partner with a talented team and build upon long-standing, high-quality customer relationships.”
In June 2023, Duke Energy also agreed to sell its unregulated utility-scale commercial renewables business to Brookfield Renewable for $2.8bn.
The company will finalise the sale of both units by the end of 2023. Their proceeds will boost its balance sheet and prevent further holding company debt issuances.
The divestments will also help the company prioritise the growth of its regulated businesses, improve grid reliability and meet its 2035 target of adding 30GW of renewable energy to its network.
