EQT to buy energy developer Scale Microgrids from Warburg Pincus

Swedish investing giant EQT plans to acquire distributed energy and microgrid developer Scale Microgrids from private equity firm Warburg Pincus and other investors.

Why it matters: There's surging demand for electricity in the U.S., and infrastructure investors are stepping in to scoop up growing companies.

Zoom in: EQT said it's buying the New Jersey-based company from its newly launched EQT Transition Infrastructure strategy.

• The companies didn't release terms of the deal. An EQT spokesperson reached by Axios did not disclose the value of the deal but said it's in the range of EQT's typical transition infrastructure equity investment size of between $300 million to $500 million.
• The acquisition is the strategy's first in North America and follows its purchase of German battery storage company ju:niz Energy.
• EQT said it will continue to provide financing for Scale Microgrids to grow, and help the company "own and operate billions of dollars in distributed generation assets."

Catch up quick: Scale Microgrids, based in Ridgewood, N.J., is one of the biggest microgrid players with 250 MW of operating and in-construction assets and another 2.5 GW in its pipeline.

• The company's energy assets can be both grid-connected and off-grid, a small but growing way to power infrastructure.

• Scale just helped produce a report that found that there's massive potential in low-cost and quick-to-build solar and storage microgrids for data centers. EQT owns data center developer EdgeConneX.
• EQT Partner Jan Vesely told Axios last month that he sees a funding gap for climate companies that need growth capital.

The big picture: Big infrastructure investors are eager to finance growing energy businesses as power needs for data centers, EVs and manufacturing soar.

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