Catalyze Chief Strategy Officer discusses recent Actis commitment; eyeing EV charging
Catalyze is targeting 600 MW of distributed solar and battery storage projects nationwide and exploring EV charging following its recent USD 300m commitment from global infrastructure asset manager Actis.
The Boulder, Colorado-based company was founded in 2017 to serve industrial and commercial real estate owners via long-term power purchase agreements and energy-services contracts. In 2019, Catalyze partnered with EnCap Investments to accelerate their development in 30 states. Then Actis, who prior to this was known for its emerging market investments, joined the partnership in March with its first US investment.
Having already locked in contracts with the likes of blue-chip clients such as Pepsi, Anheuser Busch, Fox Studios and others, Catalyze’s Chief Strategy and Investment Officer, James Geshwiler said the additional capital will be used to continue to expand its national footprint.
“Our scale allows us to work with them across their entire portfolio of properties, current and future,” said Geshwiler. “We work with our clients to help them develop a multi-year plan across all their assets, enabling them to have a degree of confidence in a key part of their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) roadmap.”
“Our grid is currently dominated by big, centralized power plants that are a hundred-year-old historical artifacts stemming from trying to provide electricity for everyone after the industrial revolution,” added Geshwiler. “The first power plants were actually part of the buildings—we're just putting them back with renewable, clean distributed generation. It's more efficient, cleaner, and smarter.”
In addition to solar + storage, Catalyze plans to accelerate their EV development.
“EV charging is simple and complicated at the same time,” Geshwiler said. “In one sense, it’s just increasing electricity consumption—roughly on the same magnitude as all the existing buildings in America. More load creates more demand for renewable energy. However, it has very different behavior and dynamics from existing residential or commercial load, which the current grid is not designed to handle either in quantity or quality. Smart, renewable IPPs will not only serve this load but help manage it to optimize our grid rather than tax it.”
According to NPM data, Catalyze has more than 17 MW of pre-operational projects under development. In Massachusetts, they partnered with Ace Solar to develop Blackstone Community Solar, a 9.4 MW system coupled with a 6.4 MWh storage facility in Worcester County. The project is set to go live in June. And In Virginia, Catalyze is the sole developer for two 4 MW community solar projects
Actis Investment
Actis made its commitment out of its Energy Fund 5, which represents USD 6bn of investable capital, according to the press release. Latham & Watkins LLP and RBC Capital Markets advised Catalyze and EnCap. Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as the legal advisor to Actis and Nomura Greentech Capital as the sole financial advisor.
“Our experience of building and operating renewable platforms around the world enables us to implement best practice growth and execution plans for Catalyze, as we seek to expand the operating asset base of the business and its footprint in North America,” said Michael Harrington, Head of Americas for Energy Infrastructure at Actis, in a company statement.
*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM subscribers last month.
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