The newly formed company DSD will provide customided turnkey PV energy and energy storage solutions to businesses, enterprises and institutions
Image: BlackRock Real Assets operates one of the largest renewable power equity investment platforms.Photo courtesy of PublicDomainPictures from Pixabay.
GE Solar and BlackRock Real Assets have collaborated to create a new business, Distributed Solar Development, a GE Renewable Energy Venture (DSD).
The newly formed company will focus on solar and storage solutions for the commercial industrial and public sectors.
In addition, DSD offers customised turnkey PV energy and energy storage solutions to businesses, enterprises and institutions throughout North America.
DSD would be 80% owned by a fund managed by BlackRock Real Assets and 20% owned by GE Renewable Energy.
Distributed Solar Development CEO Erik Schiemann said: “All we’ve accomplished as a small team to date has been working toward this moment, and I’m excited about what this transaction means for the next phase of our growth.
“Partnering with BlackRock, a leader in sustainable investment, provides the support we need to take the business to the next level and become the leader in commercial and industrial solar development.”
DSD is a start-up incubated within GE
A start-up incubated within GE, DSD is said to have now grown to over 60 employees who design, engineer, finance, operate and maintain solar and storage solutions for the commercial, industrial and public sectors.
In addition, the company has carried out the first installation in 2015 and till now, the team with more than 3GW of collective development experience has developed 125 projects.
BlackRock renewable power global head David Giordano said: “This investment will deepen our clients’ access to the tremendous growth potential in the U.S. solar industry. DSD offers end-to-end in-house capabilities and a strong team of experts from across the commercial and industrial value chain.
“We look forward to working with the DSD team to capitalize on the development opportunities presented by the growing interest in renewable energy on behalf of our clients.”
BlackRock Real Assets claims that it operates one of the largest renewable power equity investment platforms in the world with $5bn invested in more than 250 wind and solar projects, totalling 5.2GW of generation capacity.