Blackstone raises stake to $4bn in privately-owned Invenergy Renewables

Funds managed by a unit of alternative investment management company Blackstone have completed a $1bn equity investment in Invenergy Renewables, the largest privately-owned US clean energy asset owner and developer.

The move builds on nearly $3bn investment in the company by Blackstone Infrastructure Partners funds in 2021 and 2022.

Invenergy Renewables is majority owned by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), the second largest pension fund in Canada, and management of parent Invenergy based in Chicago.

On 1 January, Invenergy Renewables ranked 15th in cumulative clean power ownership in the US with 3.21GW of capacity comprising onshore wind (2.45GW), solar (634MW), and battery storage (125MW), according to American Clean Power Association, a national trade group.

At that time, it had the second largest utility-scale clean power development pipeline totaling 6.2GW behind only industry pacesetter NextEra Energy, most of it solar.

“We are proud to support the continued growth of Invenergy’s business,” said Matthew Runkle, senior managing director at Blackstone Infrastructure. “Invenergy has a premier platform for developing, owning, and operating clean energy projects.”

Jim Murphy, president of Invenergy, said the additional equity capital from Blackstone “will help accelerate execution of our existing project portfolio and our new business initiatives.”

One of those initiatives is capital-intensive offshore wind. Last December, a unit of Invenergy paid $145.3m to secure a lease off the coast of California whose deep waters will require floating platform technology.

In March 2022, Invenergy, together with partners EnergyRe, Blackstone Infrastructure, CDPQ, FirstLight Power, and Ullico Infrastructure Fund paid $645m for a lease area in the New York Bight.