Swiss private equity company Partners Group has agreed to acquire PowerTransitions, a utility-scale power developer in the US, from EnCap Investments.
It plans to inject more than $450m to accelerate the future growth of PowerTransitions, which focuses on acquiring and redeveloping legacy or retiring thermal power assets with existing grid connections.
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These assets can be improved or adjusted to incorporate new generation via co-location with solar and/or battery energy storage systems.
Concurrently with Partners Group’s investment, PowerTransitions will obtain a 226MW seed portfolio of natural gas plants and has identified a pipeline of 3GW of thermal power assets across US markets that align well with this strategy.
PowerTransitions is positioned favourably due to several thematic tailwinds and increased power demand in the US.
It is anticipated that more than 130GW of new power generation capacity will be required by 2030. This can be met through the multi-technology approach. Furthermore, delayed permissions and interconnections are complicating facility development on greenfield sites.
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By GlobalDataPartners Group will collaborate with PowerTransitions to implement a transformational value creation plan.
This plan will include the addition of co-located renewables and energy storage systems in the seed portfolio while also obtaining extra thermal assets and commercialising these either as bundled offerings or standalone ventures.
PowerTransitions chief executive officer Sean Long stated: “Our strategy allows for the avoidance of network upgrade costs and long queues, thus shortening development timelines and costs, easing independent system operators’ and regional transmission organisations’ desire to enable new power generation to provide grid reliability.
“This strategy addresses major roadblocks hindering the matching of rising power demand in the US with clean, reliable, and economic power supply. We believe aged or retired thermal and industrial sites represent a large, underutilised pool of assets with significant value creation potential and we have identified a robust pipeline of actionable near-term M&A [mergers and acquisitions] opportunities. We will leverage Partners Group’s significant experience in the power sector to capitalise on this opportunity.”
The acquisition marks Partners Group’s second investment in the US power sector in 2025, following March’s agreement to acquire a 1.9GW portfolio comprising natural gas-fired plants located in California as well as Middle River Power, which operates these assets.
Middle River is involved in developing battery energy storage systems at these plants for energy storage and for discharge when necessary.
In 2022, Partners Group bought a majority stake in Sunsure Energy, a renewable energy and decarbonisation platform in India, for $400m.
