Hecate Energy (“Hecate”) and InfraRed Capital Partners (“InfraRed”) announce today that they have combined forces to form a new energy storage company called Hecate Grid (“HG”). The new venture will develop, build, own, and operate utility-scale energy storage projects in North America.
Hecate contributed its existing energy storage portfolio, comprising 126 megawatt-hours (MWh) of operating and contracted assets, along with 600 MWh of projects in the pipeline. InfraRed committed to fund the new company’s growth. The new company will be headquartered in Chicago, IL.
Energy industry veteran Dan Walker has been named CEO of HG. He brings over 20 years of electricity industry experience in executive positions in both electricity trading and project development. Walker is a leading expert in wholesale electricity markets, having worked in 8 of the 9 North American ISO/RTO regions and co-founded several successful energy-related companies.
“Hecate Grid is the perfect combination of a proven and experienced development team joining forces with smart capital, allowing us to take advantage of a tremendous market opportunity,” said Walker.
The use of battery storage is becoming increasingly important in enabling grid networks to match fluctuations in the supply and demand of electricity and to stabilize power frequency. At the end of 2017, large-scale battery storage resources with 867 MWh of energy capacity were operating in the U.S., according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA). Utility-scale storage capacity is projected to grow significantly as state-level energy policies establish energy storage goals and organized wholesale electricity markets evolve to fully integrate energy storage resources.
“Over the last five years Hecate Energy became one of the largest developers of utility-scale energy storage assets in North America,” said Chris Bullinger, President & CEO of Hecate Energy. “In partnership with InfraRed, we are now positioned to grow our new affiliate company, Hecate Grid, into the foremost grid-scale energy storage developer and operator in North America.”
“We believe the time is now to invest in the North American energy storage markets. We are excited to partner with industry leader Hecate Energy to capitalize on this fast-growing sector of the energy industry,” said Thomas Buss, Investment Director and transaction lead for InfraRed
