Recurrent Energy, part of Canadian Solar, has received a $500m (C$672.71m) investment commitment from the Climate Infrastructure Fund, managed by BlackRock.
The preferred equity investment, which is convertible into common equity, will account for a 20% stake in Recurrent Energy’s capital, with the remaining capital owned by Canadian Solar.
The investment from BlackRock will allow Recurrent Energy to expand its project development pipeline, particularly in the US and Europe.
The proceeds will be used by the company to transition from solely developing projects to also owning and operating them long term.
Recurrent Energy CEO Ismael Guerrero stated: “This investment will support our growth and continued ambition to make a difference by leading the renewable energy transition across the world. Our mission is to deliver clean, reliable and affordable power to the world, today and tomorrow, and this milestone will help us continue to achieve this goal.”
The shift is designed to diversify Recurrent Energy's portfolio, stabilise revenue streams and enhance value retention within its project development pipeline.
Recurrent Energy has a substantial presence in the utility-scale solar and energy storage sectors.
It has developed, financed and constructed 9GW of solar and three gigawatt-hours (GWh) of battery storage power plants globally since 2009.
As of September 2023, its development pipeline included 26GW of solar and 55GWh of storage capacity, with a significant portion of these projects already secured with interconnections.
By 2026, the company expects to have 4GW of solar and 2GWh of storage operational within the US and Europe.
The transaction with BlackRock has a wide geographic scope, including markets in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North and South America.
It excludes Canadian Solar's project development business in Japan and China and assets in Latin America and Taiwan.
BlackRock climate infrastructure global head and transition capital chief investment officer David Giordano stated: “We are excited to partner on behalf of our clients with Recurrent Energy. We believe this partnership will help unlock the full potential of Recurrent Energy's impressive renewable energy project development platform.
“Recurrent Energy is emblematic of our strategy of investing in leading renewable power generation assets and transition-enabling infrastructure, and we are pleased to make this first investment commitment from the fourth vintage of BlackRock's Climate Infrastructure Fund franchise.”
