From: Mercom Capital Group

Here are some important funding and m&a updates from the global renewable energy industry from the past week:

Northvolt, a lithium-ion battery manufacturer, announced the signing of a $1.6 billion debt raise provided by a consortium of commercial banks, pension funds, and public financial institutions. This increased the total amount of capital raised to date for the development of factories and R&D investments to over $3 billion.

Wyze Labs, a smart home device manufacturer, closed a $15 million financing deal led by Norwest Venture Partners, with participation from American Family Ventures, Marcy Venture Partners, and Amino Capital. The $15 million funding will be used to continue building smart homes for mass adoption by further improving the IoT (Internet of Things) infrastructure and artificial intelligence in current product offerings, and by expanding into new product categories.

Tokyo Gas has forayed into the U.S. market with the acquisition of a 514 MW solar project located in Texas from Hecate Energy. The acquisition is scheduled for August 5, 2020. Construction of the Aktina project is planned to commence in Q3 2020 and is expected to be completed next year. With this acquisition, Tokyo Gas now has over 1,200 MW of solar under contract or ownership.

NRG Energy, a power generation and distribution company, entered into a definitive agreement with Centrica under which NRG will acquire Direct Energy, it’s North American subsidiary. The deal was valued at $3.625 billion in an all-cash transaction. The transaction builds on NRG’s position, adding more than three million retail customers across 50 states and Canada.

 Solar Plus Development (a subsidiary of Plus Renewable Technologies) and Avondale Solar completed the sale of a 350 MW solar PV project in Fort Bend County, Texas. The project, Fighting Jays Solar, has been sold to an affiliate of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners. The project is expected to break ground in the second half of 2020 and be operational by the summer of 2022.

Advantage Capital Solar Partners III has completed a solar investment tax credit financing to support Generate Capital’s development of four community solar projects in New York, representing 11 MW in generating capacity.

The AES Corporation, a Fortune 500 company that generates and distributes electrical power, made a strategic investment in 5B, a solar technology innovator based in Sydney, Australia. Together, AES and 5B will help clients accelerate their use of solar energy.

For more information on funding and m&a transactions in solar, energy storage, smart grid, and efficiency sectors visit: https://mercomcapital.com/clean-energy-reports/