Tag Archives: sale

Deal Scoop: Energy Storage Giant FlexGen Is For Sale

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

FlexGen, the energy storage developer/integrator backed by GE and Caterpillar, is for sale.

The company, whose sale is being handled by Cascadia Capital, currently sports a $400 million pipeline of solar + storage and thermal generation + storage projects across North America. FlexGen was a first-mover in DC-coupled solar + storage technology and, as we have reported, is currently delivering the largest storage project in ERCOT for Vistra Energy. T

The prospectus suggests they are casting a wide net in search of a buyer, including utilities, infrastructure funds, oil and gas majors and renewable players.

FlexGen’s announcement continues what appears to be an ongoing trend of leading storage platforms being acquired by larger entities. For example, SolarEdge just bought Kokam, and earlier this year Engie followed up its 2016 acquisition of Green Charge by buying EPS. In 2017, Greensmith, Younicos, and Demand Energy, all sold to strategic buyers, and in 2016, Saft and 1Energy were sold as well.

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FlexGen’s specialty was DC-coupled energy storage, which means there are fewer components to install, meaning there are fewer parts to break down. In addition, you eliminate the unnecessary step of converting DC power to AC power (at the inverter) and then back to DC power (at the storage level) and then back to AC to deliver the electricity to the offtaker.

It lowers installation costs and stabilizes the entire project, including the power-output percentage. Such stability makes projects much easier to finance.

As a sign of its growing acceptance in the market, power producer and retailer Vistra Energy this week chose FlexGen to build its 10-megawatt/42-megawatt-hour storage system at the 180-megawatt Upton 2 solar plant in West Texas. At the time, it was the largest storage project in the Lone Star State.

“Adding storage to existing solar sites, particularly DC-coupled, is the lowest-cost way to deliver scaled storage attributes for their system,” FlexGen Founder Josh Prueher told Greentech Media at the time the deal was signed.

More:

How Vistra and FlexGen Made the Largest Battery in Texas Pencil Out

Is DC-Coupled Storage The Next Solar Boom Segment?

Could We Finally Be Rid Of Suniva?

By Frank Andorka, Senior Correspondent

What Happened:Remember Suniva? The company whose bankruptcy last April set off the swirling cesspool that became the solar tariffs this January? Well, there have been some interesting developments with its bankruptcy lately, to wit:

  • The company’s biggest creditor, SQN Financial, has asked the judge to extend its exclusive right to Suniva’s assets, and
  • the reasons they give could be an indication that the creditor is close to negotiating a final dissolution of the company.
  • It should be noted that SQN tried to dump Suniva one month into their bankruptcy to make the tariff case go away, requesting a $55 million payment from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce to make Suniva disappear. Think of all the headaches that could have been saved if only SQN had thrown a 6th Round draft pick into the deal.

SolarWakeup’s View:  Will no one rid me of this troublesome solar company? Well, hold on, folks, because there could be a deal in the works to rid the solar industry of Suniva for good.

In the last year, I’ve become far too adept at reading solar companies’ bankruptcy filings, but when someone suggested I look at Suniva’s filings again, I thought, “Do I have to?” It’s not an overstatement to say I’m so sick of talking about Suniva I can’t even with this.

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But I pulled myself together and dived back into the muck of Suniva’s bankruptcy and found a few interesting notes I think may mean our long national nightmare could soon be over.

A flurry of filings by the bankrupt module manufacturer’s biggest creditor (and all around bad actor in this tariff drama) indicate they are trying to procure a clean title for all of the former company’s assets because they have had, according to the filings, multiple companies inquire about purchasing them. SQN, however, doesn’t currently have a clean title to the assets, which makes negotiating a final purchase…difficult to say the least.

I checked again this morning and there doesn’t seem to have been activity since last week. But I think the filings bear watching – Suniva might be no more very soon.

(It should, of course, be noted that if Suniva is sold as it appears increasingly likely it will, it means almost the entirety of the whole stupid, idiotic tariff decision was for naught. After all, wasn’t the whole craven thing an attempt to save THIS company’s skin? You know what? I was right…..I can’t even with this.)

More:

The Section 201 Trade Case: Suniva’s Tangled Web (Renewable Energy World)

The Section 201 Trade Case, Part II: In the Hands of DIPs (Renewable Energy World)

The Section 201 Trade Case, Part III: Will Any Americans Benefit? (Renewable Energy World)

As They Sowed, So Shall We Reap (SolarWakeup)

Bonus:

Have some Peter O’Toole, will you?