$153 Million Dollar Vehicle Headlined by Commitment from NGP Follows Flurry of Solar & BESS Project Sale Activity
SAN FRANCISCO, CA – December 7, 2023 –
Segue Sustainable Infrastructure, a provider of development capital for domestic renewable energy and storage projects, has closed Segue Renewables II (“SR2”), the successor capital pool to Segue Renewables I (“SR1”), which closed in the summer of 2021. SR2 will continue to support developers of clean energy and storage projects – at any stage – with flexible capital, aligned partnership, and the experience and patience to navigate the non-linear journey from idea to power plant.
SR2 is capitalized by NGP – which was also the largest investor in SR1 – supplemented by commitments from Segue’s management team. “Continuing to partner with NGP as our primary source of capital was a no-brainer. They’ve struck a wonderful balance between giving us space to operate efficiently and effectively, while bringing their expertise and relationships to bear when the moment calls for it”, said Segue’s Managing Partner, David Riester.
NGP’s commitment to SR2 represents a continued expansion of their investments across sustainable real assets. Sam Stoutner, a Partner at NGP focused on the sector: “Segue’s unique strategy and ability to reach deep into the clean energy sector offers NGP access to a compelling niche within a high priority area for our sustainable real assets vehicle. We continue to be impressed by the performance of the SR1 portfolio, and look forward to deepening our relationship with Segue’s outstanding team through our commitment to SR2.”
SR1 is fully committed, with 16 different investments across solar, storage, EV charging depots, and a tax credit monetization platform. The overwhelming majority of Segue’s investments to date have been direct capital infusions into portfolios of development stage projects, in partnership with on-the-ground development partners with local expertise and day-to-day execution responsibility. Segue Partner Kristina Shih describes their development partners as “an eclectic mix of experienced frontline project developers ranging from one-person shops to medium-sized firms… from de novo spin-outs to long-established industry mainstays. The common thread is a desire to bet on oneself to create more value by carrying their projects deeper into development.”
Segue has made two opportunistic venture-like seed-stage investments in EV Realty, a commercial EV charging depot developer, and Reunion Infrastructure, the leading tax credit transfer marketplace. “There are certain combinations of founder team and strategy that we’re simply not able to let pass us by, even if the investment deviates a bit from our core business focus, EVR and Reunion were exactly that”, offers Joe Song, a Partner at Segue. “We believe when it comes to the world’s energy mix, time is of the essence, so most of our capital goes towards deployment of assets that provide high probability of direct, near-term impact. We are project backers and practitioners focused on staying in the trenches of infrastructure deployment.”
Across their 14 development partnerships, SR1’s portfolio includes ~100 individual projects representing 20,000 MW of capacity. This pipeline includes projects in CAISO, WECC, MISO, SPP, ERCOT, SERC, PJM, NE-ISO, NYISO, AESO and IESO in Canada and is diversified across utility scale solar, community solar, distributed BESS, and utility-scale BESS.
SR1 has enjoyed early liquidity arising from a handful of project/portfolio sales, among them i) two ERCOT/TX solar assets, ii) an ERCOT/TX BESS project, iii) four Ontario BESS assets, and iv) two TVA solar projects. Additional realizations are in various stages of closing. Segue usually expects to sell projects near NTP, after development risk is extinguished. However, some assets are opportunistically sold earlier. “This market is still inefficient and unpredictable, so we avoid being prescriptive or rigid when it comes to project sales; we like to say that everything is always for sale, but nothing must sell”, says Leslie Hodge, Segue’s General Counsel, who has spearheaded much of Segue’s M&A activity, and was recently promoted to Partner.
Segue’s team stands at 11, having recruited a handful of experienced, talented members to the team in preparation for SR2, including Wopamo Osaisai (Director of Portfolio Operations), Katie Vorhis (Deputy General Counsel), Nicolas Ilg (Associate), and Will Hanley (Associate) in 2023. Riester believes staying small and nimble is core to the firm’s success: “some of our best opportunities are relatively small, and a bit quirky, so we are reticent to ‘grow ourselves out’ of that space.” With that in mind, the strategy for SR2 is unchanged.
“For better or worse, the clean energy capital market is volatile and extremely dynamic. Our experience over the years is that if you remain nimble, flexible, and calm, innumerable opportunities for exceptional risk-adjusted returns await. It just so happens that plugging up the holes that arise from this market inefficiency keeps the energy transition moving along at a good clip, offering a deeply satisfying impact-driven backdrop to the work we do”, says Riester.
About Segue Sustainable Infrastructure
Segue Sustainable Infrastructure invests in development-stage renewable energy projects and the infrastructure enabling them. Our team capitalizes, de-risks, optimizes, and monetizes projects to allow developers to capture more value. For more information, please visit www.segueinfra.com.
About NGP
NGP is a premier private equity firm that believes energy is essential to progress. Founded in 1988, NGP is moving energy forward by investing in innovation and empowering energy entrepreneurs in natural resources and energy transition. With over $20 billion of cumulative equity commitments, we back portfolio companies focused on responsibly solving and securing the energy needs of today and leading the way to a cleaner, more reliable, more affordable energy future. For more information, visit www.ngpenergy.com
