EQT Investments has acquired US-based microgrid company Scale Microgrids. The acquisition was made through EQT Transition Infrastructure, its investment vehicle, and represents its first acquisition in the North American market.
Further details of the acquisition, including the purchase price, were not shared.
“We are thrilled that Scale Microgrids will become EQT Transition Infrastructure’s first investment in North America, underscoring our commitment to driving the energy transition globally and supporting a decarbonized and climate-resilient future while addressing the accelerated electricity demand in North America,” said Jan Vesely, head of EQT Transition Infrastructure.
Scale, headquartered in Ridgewood, New Jersey, has a portfolio of 250MW of operating and in-construction assets and 2.5GW of near-term pipeline. As part of its microgrid solution, the company deploys various technologies, including solar, battery storage, natural gas generators, fuel cells, and combined heat and power.
“Today marks the start of an exciting new chapter for our company. EQT brings a depth of experience, resources, and capital that will enable us to continue pursuing our vision to power the world with distributed energy,” said Ryan Goodman, CEO of Scale.
It offers microgrid services to various commercial and industrial clients, including data centers. According to the company, Scale’s microgrid solution addresses several key challenges facing grid infrastructure, including the rapid load growth from data centers.
According to a recent report from Grid Strategies, US electricity demand is projected to surge by 128GW within the next five years, with data center expansion as the primary driver.
As a result, more and more data center developers are looking at microgrids as a potential solution to their power needs.
In November 2024, Bloom Energy signed an agreement with American Electric Power (AEP) to install up to 1GW of its solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) at AI data center sites.
Before this, in October, Tecfusions signed a 1GW AI infrastructure deal with AI cloud firm TensorWave, which will utilize on-site microgrid generation powered primarily by natural gas to maintain a stable energy supply for the data centers.
EQT has made several significant investments in the data center sector over the past year. In January, the firm's Infrastructure VI fund invested in colocation provider EdgeConneX to support its hyperscale ambitions.
