Rattlesnake wind farm in Texas was formerly owned by Goldwind. Following its acquisition, Exus now operates a North American renewables portfolio exceeding 1.8GW on behalf of its investors, marking a vast expansion in the company’s asset base since its first acquisition of 120 MW of solar farms in September 2019.
The rapid growth by the company is in line with recently changing market dynamics in the US renewable energy sector through 2020, driven by supportive state policies and impetus from the remaining tax credits. A growing variety of investors has now entered the sector, where local utilities and developers previously dominated. Institutional and private investors have now identified US renewables as an asset class capable of delivering stable returns amid wider market volatility.
However, with increased maturity and commoditization, margins are reduced. Simultaneously, US portfolios are growing in scale and technological diversity, while asset owners must also account for the increasing financial risks of operating in a range of complex merchant electricity markets.
In this context, demand from investors is growing for the support of asset management teams that can not only offer technical expertise – using data-driven approaches to harness the full potential of wind and solar assets – but critically, also provide active commercial management of those assets to ensure ongoing profitability.
Exus’ North American portfolio now encompasses 46 individual assets in 7 states and provinces with approximately 1250 MW of solar and 550 MW of wind under management for seven major institutional investors.
For the majority of assets, Exus has guided its investors throughout sourcing and acquisition, acting as a buy-side advisor to its clients. Exus then takes on the operational management of the projects, with an approach to technical optimization that draws on a unique combination of on-the-ground experience and digital anomaly detection and predictive maintenance tools such as its proprietary ‘BlueSky’ asset management platform.
“For investors looking to maximise returns in the North American energy market, the scope of work involved in energy sales and commercial management is just as significant as the effort that is required to keep projects up and running from a technical standpoint” said James Spencer, Managing Partner at Exus. “Both are equally critical to long-term success as renewables continue to expand, and both must be continually fine-tuned to respond to evolving market risks. As our investment at Rattlesnake shows, Exus is committed to finding best-in-class clean energy portfolios for our partners that deliver optimal returns, minimize risks, and exceed industry benchmarks for ESG compliance.”
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