Alternative investment firm Strategic Value Partners (SVP) has launched a new joint venture with NewEdge Power, focused on expansion of NewEdge’s utility-scale battery storage platform.

Financial terms of this transaction have not been disclosed.

Announced Oct. 29, the joint venture will see SVP make an initial capital commitment to support the expansion of the NewEdge corporate platform. The company’s pipeline currently includes utility-scale projects in both solar and battery storage, as well as distributed energy resource-based projects across several American power markets.

Under the new joint venture, NewEdge will launch a seed portfolio targeting up to 1.2 GW of capacity in PJM’s grid region.

“For decades, power availability was taken for granted as demand stayed flat,” says NewEdge CEO and co-founder Joe Nano. “Today, with unprecedented demand growth driven by data centers and the reshoring of manufacturing, we’re seeing a need for new resources to serve the market. Battery storage has emerged as a critical part of the solution that can be delivered quickly to meet this need.

Nano adds that SVP brings not only the scalability, but the expertise and the conviction to build on NewEdge’s current platform in the U.S. energy landscape.

Striking while the iron is hot

The partnership aims to further build on NewEdge’s existing financial backing, courtesy of SJF Ventures, which led its Series A fundraising round in 2015. Under the new agreement, NewEdge will continue to lead development, with SVP funding “select projects” as they progress.

Mike Ungari, SVP’s global head of real estate, says the new partnership combines SVP’s investment capabilities with NewEdge’s keen eye for identifying and advancing key solar and battery sites.

“Power markets are being reshaped by rising electricity demand and the need to bring new capacity online at pace,” he says. “However, power demand is only part of the story. In markets like PJM, securing well-located sites and a viable path to the grid is a significant part of the growing opportunity we are seeing.”

The partnership comes online at a crucial time for the American energy grid, as PJM and other interconnection firms continue to face spiking demand. As the AI data center buildout and utility electrification truly take hold, battery storage is looking more and more like a key resource for managing demand going forward.

“We’ve built NewEdge around securing high-quality sites and interconnection positions in the markets where new capacity is needed most,” says NewEdge co-founder Steve Barna, also the firm’s chief development officer. “With SVP’s capital, we believe we can move our seed portfolio and pipeline through development at the pace this market requires.”

— Solar Builder magazine