With this investment, Manulife takes a minority stake in PowerFlex and enables the company to deploy onsite solar, storage and EV charging solutions to meet high customer demand.
PowerFlex, an EDF Renewables North America, received a $100 million investment from Manulife Investment Management. With this transaction, Manulife IM holds a minority stake in PowerFlex and joins its Board of Directors with EDF Renewables retaining majority ownership.
“We are happy to partner with EDF Renewables and play a role in PowerFlex’s growth to help its customers achieve their sustainability and decarbonization goals,” said Pradeep Killamsetty, managing director, infrastructure investments, Manulife Investment Management. “We see a strong growth opportunity for PowerFlex’s intelligent solutions, which enable organizations and enterprises to reduce energy costs and increase resiliency by integrating and co-optimizing multiple technologies, including solar, battery storage, EV charging, and microgrid systems.”
PowerFlex will use the proceeds of this capital raise to further invest in PowerFlex X, and it will enable the company to accelerate the deployment of onsite solar, storage, and EV charging. The company reports that it has seen increasing customer demand driven by corporate sustainability commitments, individual state renewable portfolio standards and targets, and climate-friendly federal legislation, such as the Inflation Reduction Act.
“We are excited to partner with Manulife Investment Management, whose team brings an in-depth understanding of infrastructure trends that will help us continue providing our clients with reliable and cutting-edge clean energy solutions,” said Raphael Declercq, CEO of PowerFlex. “PowerFlex’s accompanying digital products optimize the system performance of all onsite energy assets to generate greater cost savings and increase efficiency. The investment will help advance our mission of electrifying the transportation sector and deploying low-carbon infrastructure in a way that also supports a cleaner, more decentralized and resilient grid.”
PowerFlex said it has more than 400 MW of commercial solar installed. It has also deployed approximately 10,000 of its intelligent EV charging solutions. Many of its customers are top cleantech adopters, according to PowerFlex. One large customer, for example, is Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which has 1,000 PowerFlext EV chargers installed in its new parking facilities.
As part of the investment, Manulife IM has also acquired a portfolio of existing PowerFlex operating assets to serve as the basis for a dedicated financing vehicle for future projects.
PowerFlex was acquired in 2019 by EDF Renewables, as part of EDF’s strategic growth in the distributed energy market.
