Editor's Note
Editor's note — three to watch from last week.
- 1
Next-generation geothermal had its breakout week — a landmark IPO and a hyperscaler offtake within days. Fervo Energy priced the first next-gen geothermal IPO, a $1.89B raise (70M Class A shares at $27, upsized from 55.6M; Nasdaq: FRVO) led by J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, RBC and Barclays, to fund its Cape Station enhanced-geothermal project in Utah. Days earlier, Amazon contracted 100 MW of Zanskar geothermal inside a 700 MW Nevada data-center portfolio with NV Energy — its first geothermal offtake. An asset class that was pre-commercial a year ago now has both a listed pure-play and a hyperscaler buyer.
- 2
SEIA named former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty its president and CEO. Pawlenty — most recently CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable — succeeds Abigail Ross Hopper after her nine-year tenure, taking the solar trade association into the §45Y/48E tax-credit phase-down and the IRA-rollback fight. Putting a two-term governor with Washington financial-sector standing at the top signals SEIA is prioritizing political reach as policy, not project economics, becomes the swing variable for solar deal flow.
- 3
Sunraycer Renewables closed a $901M financing for a three-project Texas solar-plus-storage portfolio. MUFG led the bank group — Ally Bank, Nomura, Nord/LB and Société Générale — backing 479.5 MWac of solar and 236.5 MWac of two-hour batteries across Delta and Franklin counties in ERCOT, with Google as offtaker. A five-bank syndicate financing a contracted ERCOT solar-plus-storage build signals lender appetite held firm into the §45Y/48E construction-start crunch.
The Week in Deals
9 deals| Date | Deal Type | Tech | Seller / Sponsor | Buyer / Financier | Size | Location | Status | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 15 | Power Purchase Agreement | Solar+BESS | AES | Kauai Island Utility Cooperative (KIUC) | 35 MW | HI | Approved | The Hawaii PUC approved KIUC's 25-year PPA for the AES Mana Solar & Storage project on the Mana Plain, Kauai (35 MW solar + 4-hour BESS). Paired with the recently-approved Ka'awainui Solar, it puts Kauai on track for roughly 90% renewable generation by 2030 and displaces an estimated 5.9 million gallons of diesel a year. | |
| May 14 | Project Finance | Solar+BESS | Sunraycer Renewables | MUFG Bank, Ltd. (lead); Ally Bank; Nomura Securities International, Inc.; Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (Nord/LB); Société Générale | $901M | TX | Closed | Sunraycer Renewables closed a $901M project financing facility — construction-to-term loan, tax credit bridge loan and letter-of-credit facility — for three Texas solar-plus-storage projects (479.5 MWac solar + 236.5 MWac 2-hour BESS). MUFG led; Ally Bank, Nomura, Nord/LB and Société Générale co-arranged. Second portfolio financing in ~12 months, bringing Sunraycer total capital raised to roughly $1.6B. Eagle Springs targets 2026 COD; Lupinus projects late 2027. | |
| May 13 | Project & Portfolio M&A | Solar | OCI Energy | Arava Power | 670 MW | TX | Announced | Israeli developer Arava Power agreed to acquire 50% of the 670 MWdc La Salle Solar project from Texas-based OCI Energy via an executed MIPA; the partners will jointly finance, build, own and operate. Third collaboration between the two firms and the largest single-site project for either. Powers roughly 100,000 homes; groundbreaking targeted by year-end 2026, COD 2028. | |
| May 13 | Corporate Debt & Capital Markets | Geothermal | Fervo Energy | J.P. Morgan, BofA Securities, RBC Capital Markets, Barclays (joint lead bookrunners) | $1.89B | TX | Closed | Fervo Energy priced an upsized $1.89B IPO (70M Class A shares at $27.00) and began trading on Nasdaq as FRVO on May 13 — the first next-generation geothermal company to go public, a landmark for the clean-firm-power sector. Shares surged on debut; proceeds accelerate the multi-hundred-MW Cape Station EGS plant in Utah. | |
| May 13 | Strategic & Growth Capital | BESS | Frontier Power USA | Cerberus Capital Management ($100M anchor equity); Eos Energy Enterprises (~$150M rights offering); Ariel Green (up to $1.5B technology performance insurance) | $100M | NJ | Announced | Eos Energy Enterprises and Cerberus Capital Management launched Frontier Power USA, an independent LDES development/investment company pairing Eos's American-made zinc-bromide batteries, $100M Cerberus anchor equity, a ~$150M Eos rights offering and up to $1.5B of Ariel Green performance insurance — with a 2 GWh firm capacity reservation. Targets C&I, AI data centers and utility-scale projects. | |
| May 12 | Power Purchase Agreement | Solar+BESS | DESRI (D.E. Shaw Renewable Investments) | Meta | 850 MW | Multi-state | Announced | DESRI and Meta announced 850 MW of new solar and storage PPAs across Oklahoma, Texas and Mississippi, lifting the partnership to roughly 2,575 MW across nine states. About 1,110 MW of the portfolio is expected to begin construction in 2026. Meta was the largest global corporate clean-energy offtaker in 2025 (10.24 GW per BloombergNEF); the deal includes community benefit programs. | |
| May 12 | Utility Green Tariff | Mixed | Zanskar (geothermal); Primergy Solar (solar + BESS) | Amazon (via NV Energy utility PPA program) | 700 MW | NV | Announced | Amazon's first US geothermal offtake — sourced through NV Energy under a 20-year PPA — bundles 100 MW Zanskar geothermal with 600 MW Primergy solar + 600 MW Primergy BESS to power Reno-area AWS data centers. Subject to PUCN approval of NV Energy's 2026 IRP; commercial operation targeted by 2030. Marks the first commercial deployment for Zanskar's machine-learning-driven geothermal exploration model. | |
| May 12 | Strategic Partnership | BESS | Juniper Energy (US BESS developer, Mojave Desert focus) | — | — | CA | Announced | Alsym Energy and Juniper Energy unveiled a strategic partnership to deploy 500 MWh of Alsym's sodium-ion BESS in California's Mojave Desert. Alsym's Na-Series chemistry uses passive cooling — a fit for high-ambient desert sites — and continues the recent run of non-lithium BESS commercialization deals (following Alsym's earlier 8.5 GWh ESS Tech partnership in April). | |
| May 11 | Manufacturing Investment | BESS | Ford Energy (new Ford Motor Co. subsidiary) | Ford Motor Company (~$2B internal capital) | $2.00B | KY | Announced | Ford Motor Company formally launched Ford Energy, a US stationary-storage subsidiary, anchored on a 20 GWh/yr LFP cell and DC-block BESS plant in Glendale, Kentucky (the former BlueOval SK site). Flagship FE-250/FE-450 5.45 MWh containerized BESS use 512 Ah prismatic LFP cells. First customer deliveries late 2027. Marks Ford's pivot from automotive-only into utility/data-center BESS supply against a backdrop of accelerating domestic-content (Section 45X/232) policy. |
Change of Control
16 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.
Chad Richwine named Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Vesper Energy (from General Counsel, Vesper Energy)
Vesper elevates GC Chad Richwine (ex-Akin Gump, ex-JPMorgan Private Bank) to EVP and Chief Legal Officer — putting the legal function on the executive team as the Houston-based utility-scale solar+BESS platform scales financings and offtake complexity.
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.
Tim Pawlenty joined as President and Chief Executive Officer at Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) (from President and Chief Executive Officer, Financial Services Roundtable)
SEIA tapped former two-term Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty — most recently CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable — as its permanent president and CEO, succeeding Abigail Ross Hopper after a nine-year run. The pick of a Republican former governor signals a deliberate bet on bipartisan reach and Washington dealmaking as the solar industry navigates IRA-rollback pressure.
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.
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.
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.
Michael J. Hennigan appointed Independent Director at Kayne Anderson Energy Infrastructure Fund (from Executive Chairman (retired Dec 2025), Marathon Petroleum Corporation)
The Kayne Anderson energy infrastructure closed-end fund (NYSE: KYN) added retired Marathon Petroleum / MPLX chief Hennigan to its board, bringing it to six members (five independent) after two earlier 2026 retirements.
Parker Hills named Senior Vice President of Digital Infrastructure Development at Vesper Energy (from Vice President of Development, Vesper Energy)
Vesper formalizes a data-center-dedicated origination team under new SVP, Digital Infrastructure Development Parker Hills — the standout title in the six-person promotion wave and a direct signal of the IPP's hyperscaler-PPA pivot.
Rick Knauth named Senior Vice President of Asset Management at Vesper Energy (from Head of Asset Management and Market Analytics, Vesper Energy)
Knauth (ex-Swift Current Energy, CAMS) is elevated to SVP, Asset Management as Vesper shifts from pure developer to long-hold operator with a growing operating fleet.
Edward Shelton named Senior Vice President of Power Development at Vesper Energy (from Director of Power Development, Vesper Energy)
Shelton, who leads Vesper's power-marketing/offtake function, steps up to SVP, Power Development — aligning his band with the new Digital Infrastructure Development vertical under Parker Hills.
Allen Goodling named Vice President and General Counsel at Vesper Energy (from Senior Counsel, Vesper Energy)
Goodling backfills the GC seat as Chad Richwine moves up to CLO.
Kelly Marino named Vice President of Human Resources at Vesper Energy (from Director of Human Resources, Vesper Energy)
Marino's elevation to VP HR completes the six-person leadership build-out — a characteristic move for a private IPP gearing up for an institutional capital event or rapid headcount ramp.
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