Private equity giant Carlyle has invested $350 million in Aspen Power Partners as the generation platform embarks on an acquisition spree.
Setting a goal of 1GW scale by the middle of the decade – through organic and acquisition-driven growth, targeting the community, multifamily, and commercial & industrial (C&I) solar and storage markets – Aspen started by acquiring Safari Energy.
Founded in 2008, New-York-based Safari has acquired or developed more than 600 C&I solar projects spanning 24 states and Washington, D.C., making the deal one of the industry’s largest distributed solar C&I transactions to date.
Aspen has acquired Safari’s complete development platform, including its 220MW portfolio of operating and under-construction distributed generation solar assets.
“During this critical climate decade, as demand for solar, storage, and electric vehicle charging continues to expand, the Carlyle investment and Safari transaction provide a clear path forward for our team to execute a step-change in the scale of our impact,” commented Jackson Lehr, Aspen co-founder and CFO.
The Dallas, Texas-based distributed generation platform was incubated by Energy Impact Partners, and back in February it secured $120 million from Ultra Capital, Redball Power, Lombard Odier, and several family offices and high net worth individuals.
“We want to thank our existing investors Ultra Capital, Lombard Odier, Redball Ventures, and Two Seven Ventures for supporting our growth to date and welcome the Carlyle team as our partners for this next stage of growth,” said Jorge Vargas, Aspen co-founder and chief executive.