After Big Oil’s waves of consolidations, Big Solar could be next

The wave of consolidation that swept through Big Oil in the last few months is expanding to Big Solar.

Large U.S. solar companies, hungry to buy commercial and utility-scale projects from their smaller peers, are finding a growing number of sellers who lack the patience and deep pockets needed to actually get a new solar farm built and connected to the grid, renewable energy experts told Semafor. That’s a reversal from 2023, when solar dealmaking largely dried up because of lingering uncertainties over Inflation Reduction Act tax credits and how they might influence a project’s valuation. The Biden administration has since offered more clarity on this point — but interest rates remain high and show no sign of falling, while electric grid operators are raising the rates they charge solar developers to keep their place in the dreaded, years-long “interconnection queue.” That’s forcing more early-stage solar projects onto the market.

Ben Pratt, CEO of project developer Nova Clean Energy, said he wants to double the number of solar and wind farms in the company’s construction pipeline mainly by buying incomplete projects from smaller competitors — and that there are suddenly a lot of good deals to be had.