Duke Energy To Offload Commercial Distributed Generation Biz to ArcLight In $364 million Deal

Duke Energy has announced an agreement to sell its commercial distributed generation business to an affiliate of ArcLight Capital Partners, LLC , a leading middle market infrastructure investor, for an enterprise value of $364 million, inclusive of non-controlling tax equity interests. Duke Energy expects approximately $259 million of proceeds from this transaction, which is subject to certain customary adjustments and will be received upon closing.

In early June, Duke Energy reached a sale agreement for its utility-scale renewables business platform to Brookfield. The company expects to finalize the sales for its utility-scale and distributed generation businesses by the end of 2023 and will utilize the proceeds to strengthen its balance sheet and avoid additional holding company debt issuances associated with these assets. These transactions will support Duke Energy’s focus on the growth of its regulated businesses, including investments to enhance grid reliability and help incorporate over 30,000 megawatts of regulated renewable energy onto its system by 2035.

The distributed generation business being sold includes REC Solar operating assets, development pipeline and O&M portfolio, as well as distributed fuel cell projects managed by Bloom Energy. Employees of the distributed generation business will transition to ArcLight to maintain business continuity for its operations and customers.

Duke Energy

For Duke Energy, a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C serves 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, through its electric utilities. With over 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy transition to achieve its goals of net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030 and net-zero carbon emissions from electricity generation by 2050. The company has interim carbon emission targets of at least 50% reduction from electric generation by 2030, 50% for Scope 2 and certain Scope 3 upstream and downstream emissions by 2035, and 80% from electric generation by 2040. In addition, the company is investing in major electric grid enhancements and energy storage and exploring zero-emission power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.