Cypress Creek Renewables, a developer and operator of utility-scale and distributed solar and energy storage projects, acquired a 400 MW/600 MWh energy storage portfolio in Texas from Black Mountain Energy Storage (BMES). The transaction was facilitated through the LevelTen Energy Asset Marketplace.
The projects, each 100 MW, are located throughout the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market and are currently under development.
Cypress Creek will continue project development, entitlement, engineering, procurement, financing, and construction and will operate the 400 MW/600 MWh portfolio once complete. The four projects are expected to be commissioned in 2024.
Cypress Creek has developed more than 11 GW of solar projects; and has a 15 GW solar and storage pipeline. In the ERCOT market, Cypress Creek has developed 5 GW of solar and storage assets.
“ERCOT is an incredibly dynamic power market, and standalone storage assets will continue to provide opportunities to increase grid reliability through flexible and dispatchable resources,” said Jack Murray, Director of M&A at Cypress Creek. “Black Mountain has been an exceptional partner to work with and we are excited to throw our development, EPC and financing expertise behind these assets to move them across the finish line, affirming our commitment to developing resilient renewable energy resources throughout Texas.”
The company had recently raised a $450 million debt facility to expand its solar and storage project pipeline. The Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), a government-owned investment company owned by the Queensland Government, acted as a Joint Lead Arranger alongside other lenders.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2022 Funding and M&A Report for Storage, Grid & Efficiency, there were 13 energy storage M&A transactions in 1H 2022 compared to nine in 1H 2021.
Earlier this Month, Generate Capital, a sustainable infrastructure platform, acquired large-scale battery storage developer esVolta. The acquisition will enable Generate to expand into the front-of-the-meter battery storage market.
