Create new company Distributed Solar Development, a GE Renewable Energy Venture
Schenectady, NY July 17, 2019 – GE Solar and BlackRock today announced the creation of a new business, Distributed Solar Development, a GE Renewable Energy Venture (DSD). The company, which will be 80 percent owned by a fund managed by BlackRock Real Assets and 20 percent owned by GE Renewable Energy, will focus on solar and storage solutions for the commercial industrial and public sectors. The new business has been incubated in GE since 2012, operating under the name GE Solar. Additional financial details were not disclosed.
Erik Schiemann, CEO of Distributed Solar Development said, “All we’ve accomplished as a small team to date has been working toward this moment, and I’m excited about what this transaction means for the next phase of our growth. Partnering with BlackRock, a leader in sustainable investment, provides the support we need to take the business to the next level and become the leader in commercial and industrial solar development.”
As a start-up incubated within GE, DSD has grown to over 60 employees who design, engineer, finance, operate and maintain solar and storage solutions for the commercial, industrial and public sectors. From its first installation in 2015 to today, DSD has developed 125 projects at the hands of a team with over 3GW of collective development experience.
David Giordano, Global Head of Renewable Power at BlackRock, said, “This investment will deepen our clients’ access to the tremendous growth potential in the U.S. solar industry. DSD offers end-to-end in-house capabilities and a strong team of experts from across the commercial and industrial value chain. We look forward to working with the DSD team to capitalize on the development opportunities presented by the growing interest in renewable energy on behalf of our clients.”
BlackRock Real Assets operates one of the largest renewable power equity investment platforms in the world with $5 billion invested in over 250 wind and solar projects across the globe, with a total generation capacity of over 5.2GW.
About Distributed Solar Development
Distributed Solar Development is part of the evolution to cleaner, secure, more customer-focused energy. As a highly experienced developer with a deep bench of solar industry talent, DSD provides customized turnkey PV energy and energy storage solutions to businesses, enterprises and institutions throughout North America. From analysis, through design and finance, to commercial operation and asset ownership, DSD delivers its customers long-term economic value that has real environmental impact. www.ge.com/solar
About GE
GE (NYSE:GE) drives the world forward by tackling its biggest challenges. By combining world-class engineering with software and analytics, GE helps the world work more efficiently, reliably, and safely. For more than 125 years, GE has invented the future of industry, and today it leads new paradigms in additive manufacturing, materials science, and data analytics. GE people are global, diverse and dedicated, operating with the highest integrity and passion to fulfill GE’s mission and deliver for our customers. www.ge.com
About BlackRock
BlackRock helps investors build better financial futures. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, our clients turn to us for the solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. As of March 31, 2019, the firm managed approximately $6.52 trillion in assets on behalf of investors worldwide. For additional information on BlackRock, please visit www.blackrock.com.
About BlackRock Real Assets
In today’s dynamic and complex global investing market, we seek to help our clients’ access real assets that could help meet their investment goals by providing a distinct range of well defined, outcome orientated strategies, along the investment risk - return spectrum.
Our dedicated teams of industry and sector specialists deliver global reach, with deep local expertise. They have decades of relevant experience, are deeply embedded in their operating industries by sector and geography and have developed strong partnership networks over time. BlackRock’s culture of risk management, knowledge sharing and investment discipline sets us apart and underpins all that we do. With over 380 professionals in 27 offices managing over US $50 billion in client commitments as of March 31, 2019, BlackRock Real Assets partners with clients to provide solutions tailored to individual portfolio needs such as income, growth, liquid or balanced real assets outcomes.