BlackRock Alternatives, through a fund managed by its Diversified Infrastructure business, has agreed to acquire US energy storage developer Jupiter Power.
EnCap Energy Transition Fund I (EETF I) and co-investment partners Yorktown Partners and Mercuria Energy are selling Jupiter, with the transaction expected to close in late 2022.
Jupiter’s team includes 70 professionals with more than 25GW of prior power generation project experience globally, including some of the first utility-scale energy storage projects built in the US.
The developer’s pipeline totals over 11,000MW from California to Maine.
The company owns and operates a large storage fleet in Texas comprising 655-megawatt hours (MWh), and currently has 340MWh of new projects in or near construction, including its first project in California.
Earlier in 2022 Jupiter closed a stand-alone storage portfolio debt financing of its operating portfolio and announced a collaboration to secure 2,400MWh of domestic-content-qualified battery energy storage systems for its 2024-2025 projects.
“Acquisition of Jupiter’s uniquely capable energy storage platform by BlackRock’s Diversified Infrastructure business is another sign that energy storage is maturing into an important new player in the electricity business with a critical role to play,” said Jupiter Power CEO Andy Bowman.
“Our team has special insight into the many useful things storage can do because of our deep prior experience with renewable energy projects, and we are proud to help lead the way now to the next generation of utility scale energy storage systems.”
The acquisition of Jupiter by BlackRock’s Diversified Infrastructure business, part of BlackRock Alternatives, is the second exit transaction by EnCap’s $1.2bn EETF I.
In addition to Jupiter, EETF I has backed leading energy transition companies, including Catalyze Energy (distributed commercial and industrial solar plus batteries), Solar Proponent (large scale solar), Triple Oak Power (utility scale wind power) and Arbor Renewable Gas (clean fuels), among others.