SoftBank Energy Unit Gets Up to $600 Million, Led By Ares Funds

(Bloomberg) -- SoftBank Group Corp. unit SB Energy Global lined up a strategic equity investment of up to $600 million to help expand its portfolio of solar and storage projects.

Funds of Ares Management have committed the majority of the financing, with the balance expected to come from co-investors, according to a statement.

SB Energy launched in the U.S. in 2019 and has about 1.3 gigawatts of solar power operating in Texas and California. It plans to significantly expand the number of renewable energy and storage projects it has in operation or under construction by the end of 2025.

“We don't want to just power a city during the day,” Rich Hossfeld, SB Energy’s co-CEO, said in an interview. “We want to be able to go to our utility customers, to our corporate customers, and deliver them power from multiple resources that they can count on, that they can depend on—and that is local, that’s renewable.”

Battery storage enables solar energy to power homes at night, and technologies including artificial intelligence—another focus for SB Energy—can aid forecasting. Storage also helps with resiliency, said Mike Roth, a partner at Ares Infrastructure and Power.

SB Energy recently placed a multi-year order for 1.5 gigawatts in panels from First Solar Inc. The panels will be manufactured in Ohio, limiting potential logistics obstacles that have confronted some developers that rely on imported equipment.

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