• Clean energy project financing pipeline expected to be active in next two years
• Funds exploring clean energy exits as they pursue data center and energy transition opportunities
• DG consolidation expected to take shape

The entire Arizona Biltmore complex in Phoenix was taken over this past week by industry leaders in clean energy development and finance, combined with investors, bankers and lawyers all in the interest of carving out the next deal at InfoCast’s Solar+Wind Finance & Investment Summit.

Major themes centered around execution speed, consolidation and major energy investments away from renewable energy and more into energy transition and data centers.

The focus was bifurcated, but active in clean energy finance.

The bigger developers who safe-harbored parts were lining up project finance deals, with optimism that the pipeline looked safe for non-recourse deals for the next year or so, particularly with data centers continuing to ramp up demand for near-term power resources. This was in stark contrast to last year’s event where policy uncertainty ahead of the eventual One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) kept activity at a slower pace.

Storage developers, with no-near term fiscal cliffs in tax credits, were searching for patient capital, as absent FEOC guidance, were still trying to understand how to qualify for tax credits, while also advancing projects. This comes amidst an active sales process for Aypa Power, with other platforms such as Key Capture Energy were also expected to launch shortly.

Some of the bigger IPPs in distributed generation had lined up newer corporate finance deals lined up in the 4Q25 and 1Q26. However, for the developers that didn’t qualify, the specter of consolidation remained very much in place as a few large deals were in place, while others were merely trying to sell remaining assets to pay down lenders.

This comes as tariffs and rising interconnection costs are causing liquidity constraints for these developers, while future opportunities in areas such as community solar remain scarce and stronger legacy markets continue to struggle such as Maine, or end-markets such as California considered difficult.

M&A

On the M&A front, many well capitalized buyers are looking to purchase strong, tax-qualified projects but also have to do lots of due diligence as a result to validate quality.

Utility-scale developers are continuing to look for their next iteration, but less enthusiasm for straight out platform buyouts and more around capital finding ways to move projects forward thru structures such as joint development agreements and preferred equity solutions.

Also, larger funds are also anxious to move on from clean energy investments to other areas such as data centers and of course natural gas.

During the course of the conference, massive deals for PJM West portfolio Constellation Energy Corporation was divesting as part of the Calpine deal got announced, while affiliates of Hanwha and Elliott Management struck deals to acquire natural gas projects in ERCOT and PJM, respectively. This comes after ArcLight and Ara Partners acquired a 50% stake in Invenergy’s legacy natural business and 100% of Gate City Power, respectively.