A Washington D.C. investment firm bought a majority stake in Charlotte-based Forsite Renewables, which develops solar and battery-storage projects, for an undisclosed amount.
Galway Sustainable Capital’s Sterling Power Opportunities subsidiary plans to fund Forsite’s expansion. It’s the 34th acquisition by Galway, a specialty finance firm that promotes positive environmental and social benefits.
Forsite Development is a real estate company formed by Tom McKittrick in 2004 to redevelop coal plants closing for environmental reasons. It has expanded into renewables as an extension of its initial effort. The combined businesses employ 25 people, including 16 renewables staffers.
“Forsite brings an accomplished management team and demonstrated track record to our family of companies,” says Rich Haddon, managing director of Galway, in a release. He praised “their expertise in repurposing infrastructure from aging coal plants into fast-tracked development of utility scale renewable projects.”
None of Forsite’s projects are under development in the Carolinas and Virginia, where Duke Energy and Dominion dominate the electric utility markets. It focuses on utility-scale projects in unregulated markets where regional transmission organizations oversee the movement of wholesale electricity.
Forsite’s pipeline has completed or has under development 4 gigawatts of renewable energy and battery storage projects across “end-of-life” coal and gas plants in eight states, according to the company. Those plants operate on more than 16,000 acres.
Those eight states are Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, North Dakota and Texas.
“This is a transformative transaction and incredible milestone for our team at Forsite. It will enable us to significantly expand our project portfolio and serve the growing demand for sustainable energy,” says Kevin Day, president of Forsite Renewables.
That growing demand stems from accelerated retirement of coal plants and provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act that created incentives for developing renewables around older fossil-fuel plants, according to Forsite. Existing connections to the grid allow for quicker development of renewable projects.
Galway was formed in 2020 by three people experienced in Environmental, Social and Governance investing. They had backing from France’s Cordillera Investment Partners. In 2021, it received $265 million from funds managed by the Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management private-equity group.
Founding partner and CEO Jennifer von Bismarck was formerly on the team that managed Microsoft founder Bill Gates’ personal fortune.
