The Week in Deals
5 deals| Date | Deal Type | Tech | Seller / Sponsor | Buyer / Financier | Size | Location | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 27 | Construction loan and tax equity | Solar+BESS | SB Energy | J.P. Morgan, Bank of America, Barclays; MUFG, BayernLB, Citibank, CoBank, ING Capital, KeyBanc, Rabobank, Santander, Societe Generale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation | 602.3 MW | CA | Closed | SB Energy closed financing for construction of the Athos I and Athos II utility-scale solar projects in Riverside County, California, together totaling about 650 MWp. | |
| May 27 | Construction debt and tax equity | Solar | SB Energy | MUFG | 250 MW | CA | Closed | SB Energy closed financing for the construction of a 1.7 GW solar portfolio including the Athos I project in Riverside County, California, with tax equity from J.P. Morgan, Bank of America and Barclays and construction debt from a multi-bank group. | |
| May 27 | Project finance debt | Solar | D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments | CIT Group | $200M | IL | Closed | CIT Group's Power and Energy business served as coordinating lead arranger for approximately $200 million in financing for the 149-MW Big River solar project. | |
| May 27 | Utility PPA | Wind | Orsted | North Iowa Municipal Electric Cooperative Association | 105 MW | SD | Announced | Orsted signed a power purchase agreement with the North Iowa Municipal Electric Cooperative Association (NIMECA) for energy from the Willow Creek Wind farm. | |
| May 25 | Portfolio acquisition | Solar | Sunchase Power / SunChase Power | TotalEnergies | 600 MW | TX | Closed | TotalEnergies acquired a portfolio of 2.2 GW of solar and 600 MW of storage projects in Texas from Sunchase Power, including the Danish Fields solar plant then under development. |
Change of Control
8 movesMichael A. Brown joined as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at Clearway Energy, Inc. (from Vice President, Assistant General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, The New York Times Company)
Clearway Energy — one of the largest US clean-energy generation owners, with assets across 27 states — brought back a former in-house lawyer to take its top legal seat, succeeding retiring GC Kevin Malcarney. Brown returns from The New York Times Company, where he was assistant GC, after an earlier 2014-2021 stint at Clearway and NRG Yield.
Kevin P. Malcarney departed Clearway Energy, Inc. as EVP, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Kevin Malcarney is retiring as Clearway Energy's top lawyer effective June 1, capping a tenure that spanned the company's growth into one of the largest US clean-energy owner-operators since he took the GC seat in 2018. He remains a non-executive employee through June 26; Michael A. Brown succeeds him.
Erik Johnson departed SOLV Energy as Chief Strategy Officer
Erik Johnson resigned as Chief Strategy Officer of SOLV Energy — the utility-scale solar EPC that went public in February 2026 — and transitioned to a non-executive employee role through year-end. No successor was disclosed in the 8-K.
Jing Nealis joined as Chief Financial Officer at NeoVolta Inc. (from Chief Financial Officer, SES AI Corporation)
NeoVolta, a San Diego-based battery-storage maker, hired Jing Nealis as CFO from EV-battery firm SES AI as it stands up domestic BESS manufacturing in Georgia (2 GWh initial capacity, targeting 8 GWh). She brings 20-plus years of energy-transition and manufacturing finance experience to the residential-to-utility/C&I expansion.
Steve Bond named Executive Vice President and President at NeoVolta Power LLC (from Chief Financial Officer, NeoVolta Inc.)
In the same announcement that named Jing Nealis CFO, NeoVolta's outgoing finance chief Steve Bond shifted to EVP and President of operating subsidiary NeoVolta Power LLC, taking direct charge of the company's Georgia battery-manufacturing buildout — a CFO-to-operations move that freed the finance seat.
Ravi Abbineni joined as Chief Financial Officer at ION Storage Systems (from Senior Vice President and CFO, JM Family Enterprises)
Maryland-based solid-state battery developer ION Storage Systems hired a finance chief from large privately-held JM Family Enterprises, signaling a push toward commercial scale-up of its solid-state cell technology.
Robert Vinje joined as Chief Operating Officer at Nextpower (from Chief Operating Officer, SOLARCYCLE)
Nextpower (the solar-tracker maker that rebranded from Nextracker in Nov 2025) hired SOLARCYCLE COO Robert Vinje as its COO — a SunPower and Amazon energy-operations veteran. Comp: $475K base, 70% target bonus from FY27, $4M FY27 equity award, $250K sign-on cash.
Marco Miller named Chief Project Development Officer at Nextpower (from Chief Operating Officer, Nextpower)
Nextpower's incumbent COO Miller shifts into a newly created Chief Project Development Officer role concurrent with Robert Vinje's COO appointment — reflecting the company's post-rebrand push into integrated power technology and project services.
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