Brian O'Callaghan, PhD’s Post

Tech titans continue to trade headlines over massive clean energy investments! Following the news that Intersect Power will partner with Google on $20 billion of co-located renewable generation, Acadia Infrastructure Capital has announced Microsoft will anchor the new Climate and Communities Investment Coalition, which intends to put $9 billion into 5 GW of development over the next five years: https://lnkd.in/gsAhxZwQ

A big investment ……. U.S. clean energy investor Acadia Infrastructure Capital is launching a coalition with tech giant Microsoft as an anchor investor as part of plans to develop $9 billion worth of clean energy projects in the United States, Acadia’s Vice President Brian O’Callaghan told Reuters. #greenenergy #powergen

We are in this line of work to make a positive impact on the planet, but what if renewables could also make a positive impact on local communities in which we operate? Here’s an example of how we’re taking a stab at it.

Investment firm Climate Adaptive Infrastructure (CAI) has joined Google, TPG Rise Climate and Greenbelt Capital Partners in a funding round of more than $800 million for renewables and energy storage developer Intersect Power. “The new funding in Intersect comes at a pivotal time for the company [Intersect] in furthering its vision, as the company also announced a strategic partnership with Google and TPG Rise Climate to provide scaled renewable power and storage solutions to new data centres,” a statement said. It added: “As AI drives increasing energy capacity demand, innovative solutions that support growing data centre capacity while reducing the strain on the grid are critical.” Bill Green (pictured left), founder and managing partner at CAI, said: ““When CAI first invested in Intersect in 2020, we saw an opportunity to continue a partnership that began in 2017 and launched a breakthrough company and team with a vision to transform how we decarbonise the energy grid. Since then, Intersect has made a lasting impact on the infrastructure and economy of the United States. Our belief in the team and their vision continues to grow exponentially as they have executed on their blueprint, project by project and partnership by partnership. Their work announced today with TPG and Google will accelerate their measurable impact and provide pathbreaking new approaches to the challenge of deep decarbonisation of digital infrastructure.” Sheldon Kimber (pictured right), founder and CEO of Intersect Power, said: “Bill and the CAI team’s understanding and commitment to Intersect’s mission has been there since our earliest days. “To have their continued support as we advance our vision with significant projects like we’re announcing today speaks to CAI’s deep understanding of the pathways for long term economic impact as we decarbonize the energy grid.” In July this year, Intersect Power closed two separate transactions representing an aggregate of $837 million of financing commitments for the construction and operation of three standalone battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Texas, each with a capacity of 320MWh. #energystorage #batterystorage #funding #finance #renewableenergy  

Funding News: LevelTen Energy secured approximately $65 million in Series D funding, led by B Capital and involving major investors like Google, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, and others. The LevelTen Platform, the world’s largest online hub for carbon-free energy transactions, has facilitated over $14.8 billion in clean energy deals. LevelTen Energy aims to accelerate the deployment of clean energy to address the climate crisis. “The clean energy industry’s growth has been astonishing, but the climate crisis demands that we deploy even more clean energy at a much faster rate. Rapidly growing electricity demand is straining our infrastructure and threatening to undermine climate goals. Our existential need to keep global warming in check requires us to scale procurement and bring new technologies to mass markets even more quickly,” said Bryce Smith, founder and CEO at LevelTen Energy. #CleanEnergy #EnergyTransition #ClimateAction #RenewableEnergy #SeriesDFunding #SustainableFuture #GreenTech #CarbonFree #PPAs #CleanHydrogen #Decarbonization #EnvironmentalInnovation #GlobalExpansion #RenewableInvestment #EnergyMarketplace

As the race to secure land for energy projects intensifies, one key factor could revolutionize the project development industry and level the playing field among developers: speed. Currently, securing and… https://lnkd.in/eHtSR5EG

I recently came across this initiative by the World Economic Forum, where industry leaders are coming together to accelerate renewable infrastructure deployment globally. This kind of collaboration is exactly what we need to push past barriers like funding gaps, regulatory hurdles, and slow adoption rates. By bringing together key players across industries, we not only scale renewable projects faster but also pave the way for more inclusive and equitable access to clean energy. It’s inspiring to see concrete steps being taken, but there’s still so much work to do. What are your thoughts on how we can continue driving innovation and support for renewable infrastructure? #RenewableEnergy #Sustainability #ClimateAction #Innovation #Collaboration

Great announcement of #Acadia Infrastructure Capital, and #Microsoft, to spearhead a $9 billion initiative to roll out renewable energy projects across the U.S. This ambitious plan aims to develop 5 gigawatts of renewable power over the next five years, but also leaves key insights to support clean power globally to other large economies 💥 🚀 Accelerated Clean Energy Transition: This initiative sets a powerful precedent showcasing how corporate-led investments can significantly speed up the transition to clean energy but also where AI can be a force of change to transition. 🤝 Community Impact: By focusing on local benefits, such as reduced energy costs and job creation, this model can be replicated to ensure that the shift to renewables also supports socio-economic growth. 🌍 Corporate Responsibility: This also highlights the  role of corporate responsibility in achieving national and global climate goals Really looking forward to see this progressing Nezha Zerwal Lena Lundgreen Jay Beckwith Abbie Lowe Richard Fisher Hannah Prior, PhD Pauline Martin Valentina Ion Theresa Yurkewich Hoffmann

Another $4B+ plus of infrastructure & climate tech funding... Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners confirms $3B raised for Net Zero Power Fund Closes fifth successive energy transition-focused fund, after attracting new institutional investors from US, Canada, Australia, UK, Sweden, Norway, and Finland. Focuses on large-scale solar+storage, sustainable infrastructure for data centers, renewable fuels production, and critical grid support. Has committed more than half of the capital raised to date and expects full commitment within 12 months. Notable investments include: Primergy Solar, Rowan Digital Infrastructure, PurposeEnergy. Breakthrough Energy Ventures pulls in $839M for new climate fund New fund will focus on five key investment areas in climate innovation: electricity, transportation, manufacturing, buildings, and food and agriculture. Breakthrough said it has over $3.5 billion in committed capital in investments or planned investments in companies that can create emissions-reduction technologies and help overcome “critical gaps” in climate tech. ArcLight Capital Partners announces $500M investment initiative SkyVest Renewables ArcLight and Skyvest will target operating utility-scale wind and solar assets in North America. ArcLight is a leading value added, infrastructure investment firm with strategic partnerships and investments across the power, renewables, strategic gas, battery storage, and transformative infrastructure sectors. SkyVest is a strategic management team formed and owned by ArcLight to manage and operate utility-scale renewable wind and solar infrastructure. SkyVest will focus on operating wind and solar assets that, through operational, technical, commercial and brownfield development best practices and innovation , have the potential to generate near-term cash flow and mitigate risk. Great to see more bigger investors raising sizable new funds across renewables, storage, data centers, grid infrastructure, etc. While climate tech venture capital activity may have slowed in H1 2024, there's a lot of dry powder waiting to be deployed to accelerate decarbonization. Links to sources in comments. #innovation #infrastructure #climatetech #cleantech #venturecapital #startups

BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure business has entered into a new renewables partnership with Google in Taiwan, including a capital investment from the tech giant into BlackRock’s portfolio company New Green Power 永鑫能源 (NGP). NGP will also offer Google the rights to procure up to 300 MW of solar power from the company’s solar development pipeline in Taiwan, as well as the opportunity to extend clean energy capacity to Google’s suppliers in the region. “As we witness growth in demand for digital services, powered by AI and data-centric technologies, it becomes imperative to invest in the infrastructure that not only supports this growth but also aligns with our strategy to invest in clean energy,” said David Giordano, Global Head of Climate Infrastructure at BlackRock. “This partnership is a testament to our shared commitment to driving the transition to a low-carbon economy.” Amanda Peterson Corio, Global Head of Data Center Energy at Google, added: “We’re aiming to reach net-zero emissions across our operations and value chain, supported by a goal to run on 24/7 carbon-free energy everywhere we operate. “The path to reach these goals is challenging, and requires both commercial efforts and broader energy systems change. We’re excited to partner with BlackRock and New Green Power to advance the build out of clean energy on Taiwan’s electricity grid.” The new BlackRock-Google partnership is expected to support the roll-out of NGP’s solar pipeline. NGP, which is is 100% owned by a fund managed by BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure business, aims to build 1 GW of solar capacity in the coming years. “This is a pivotal moment for energy infrastructure in Taiwan,” remarked Ross Mackey, Portfolio Manager, Climate Infrastructure at BlackRock. “BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure business is a leading investor in Taiwan’s solar industry and we are delighted to partner with Google to provide a scalable and sustainable energy solution for their operations in Taiwan.” #cleanenergy