Powering the transition to solar energy infrastructure
Madison Energy Investments
Madison is accelerating the energy transition by bringing solar energy generation and energy storage to universities, distribution centers, data centers, and other commercial, municipal, and industrial customers across North America. By developing, acquiring, and operating distributed generation assets, Madison is paving the way for customers in the public and private sector to recognize environmental goals.
Investment overview
In 2019 we partnered with the Madison management team to form a new platform focused on distributed generation activities with the goal of expanding the portfolio to at least $1 billion worth of projects over the next several years, representing at least 550 MW of commercial and industrial solar power capacity.
Distributed generation is a compelling growth area in renewable energy globally and represents a key part of our broader energy transition strategy. The value proposition in the U.S. is attractive for customers, especially in the commercial and industrial market segment, and we expect this market will continue to grow over the coming years.
Our investment in Madison provides us with exposure to long-term contracted renewable assets in the U.S. In return, Madison benefits from our team’s deep experience in renewable energy and infrastructure investing, global perspective, and flexible capital to support the platform’s continued growth.
- Initial investment
- March 2019
- Headquarters
- Tysons, Virginia
- Sector
- Energy Transition & Renewables
- Website
- madisonei.com
U.S. Department of Energy (June 2020)
A flexible approach for a fast-growing sector
Madison Energy Investments is providing a platform to accelerate the transition to clean and sustainable energy sources.
Madison’s approach to sourcing, developing, and financing projects is designed to be flexible, making it well suited to serve the commercial, municipal, and industrial sectors. The company’s business model also enables the team to aggressively pursue multiple state markets through partnerships with developers and solar-focused Engineering, Procurement, and Construction companies (EPCs) who have local knowledge and relationships.
Madison has a diverse portfolio of customers, including commercial warehouses (Lineage Logistics), US municipalities (City of Boulder) and schools and universities (Newark Board of Education, Kent State University). The platform is differentiated by its unparalleled relationships with experienced, local partners in dozens of markets throughout the U.S. and its strong management team. In partnership with Stonepeak, Madison continues grow its pipeline and develop, finance, own, and operate distributed generation assets in North America.
The Madison platform is designed to allow for expansion across a range of markets and offers its global network of partners access to institutional capital accompanied by deep knowledge of financial structuring across a variety of asset types, construction, and asset management.
A bright future for solar energy
The global solar power market is expected to reach $293B in 2028. Propelled by more supportive regulatory frameworks, reduced project and technology costs, and increased demand for clean electricity across the private and public sectors, we expect the economics of solar to continue to improve. In addition to the aforementioned factors, we expect demand for renewables to be enhanced by higher electricity costs including electricity demand charges, availability of funding, and new financing models that offset initial investment barriers.
The trend toward distributed power generation
The commercial and industrial solar market is set to expand rapidly. More than 370 companies – including dozens of the world’s largest – have joined RE100, pledging to switch to 100% renewable energy to power their operations by 2050. Commercial and industrial (C&I) customers will increasingly generate their own electricity to mitigate energy cost uncertainty. Forecasts estimate that $846B will be invested in new Distributed Energy Resources capacity over the next decade.
A range of benefits for commercial and industrial power generation
Benefits for C&I customers include reduced cost of electricity, reduced reliance on conventional power and power plants, and reduced electricity lost during transportation over power lines. C&I customers also stand to benefit from selling unused electricity back to the grid, further offsetting costs.
Decentralizing power generation
The world’s need for energy will continue to rise, making decarbonizing current fuel sources and growing the supply of cleaner energy alternatives all the more important. The pathway to net-zero emissions requires investment in proven renewable energy sources such as solar power. Distributed energy will play a pivotal role in the global power mix, as part of a wider drive to decarbonize the sector, and Madison’s business model is well positioned to benefit from these sustained ESG tailwinds.
A high-impact investment that is already yielding benefits
By providing access to cost-effective solar energy, Madison is helping customers reduce their carbon emissions. Madison’s portfolio had since inception enabled the production of over 97M kWh of renewable energy, avoiding 69,240 metric tons of CO2. This is equivalent to taking more than 15,000 cars off the road for a year.
Placing a priority on diversity and inclusion
Madison’s leadership team has made diversity and inclusion at all levels of the organization a priority for the business. The organization places considerable value on diversity of thought and perspective, recognizing the importance of building and maintaining a team with a variety of backgrounds. With a strong focus on hiring and recruiting top talent through a D&I lens, the Madison team has become a leader among the energy industry in diversity and believes, like Stonepeak, that this practice leads to better business outcomes.
Viewpoint
“As the world continues to transition to more renewable sources of energy and tailwinds for the space increase, we have been focused on identifying and creating compelling opportunities to deploy capital, including distributed generation assets. With Madison, we’ve partnered closely with Richard and the team to build a high-quality solar energy generation platform, which we have scaled considerably since its founding in 2019, and we look forward to executing on additional projects in the pipeline across the US.”
“Building successful renewables platforms from the ground up like Madison takes a combination of sophisticated investment capabilities and leadership with deep industry experience. I’ve had a chance to work firsthand with both the Stonepeak and Madison teams and continue to be impressed by their combined skillsets and highly collaborative approach to driving the platform’s goals forward.”
“It has been fantastic to partner with Stonepeak as we continue to build Madison. Our teams’ collective experience across financing, construction, and management of distributed generation assets allows us to create significant opportunities for customers that provide both certainty and savings. With more than 115 completed projects in 19 states and a reputation for being among the best in the industry, we’re proud to play a role in accelerating the energy transition and expect the platform’s strong momentum to continue.”
Sources: Fortune Business Insights (May 2021), RE100 website (February 2022), Frost & Sullivan (June 2020).
See “Terms of Use & Disclaimers” for important information about the statements made above by Stonepeak portfolio company executives and/or operating partners, including in relation to Stonepeak’s relationship with such individuals. While some of these individuals may be Stonepeak fund investors, the statements made herein are meant to reflect their experiences as Stonepeak portfolio company executives and/or operating partners and not their experiences as Stonepeak fund investors (if applicable). Certain of the portfolio companies discussed are controlled by Stonepeak as of the dates these statements were made.