Calibrant Energy Closes $145 Million Debt Facility Led by Investec

• Calibrant Energy closed a $145 million debt facility led by Investec for solar and battery storage projects in several U.S. power markets.
• The portfolio includes a 120-MWh battery serving a hyperscale data center customer in the PJM grid.
• PJM expects its summer peak to rise by nearly 66,000 MW to about 222,000 MW by 2036.

Calibrant Energy closed a $145 million debt facility led by Investec for solar and battery storage projects in several U.S. power markets, the company said on Nov. 10. The portfolio includes a 120-MWh battery storage system serving a hyperscale data center customer in PJM.

Citi, Liberty Bank and Siemens Financial Services also took part in the facility, according to the statement. The money recapitalizes operating assets and funds new construction. Calibrant did not give the battery's power rating, its state, the customer's name or the loan's tenor.

Data centers have reshaped PJM's demand outlook. The grid operator's 2026 Long-Term Load Forecast puts 10-year summer peak growth at 3.6% a year. The 2021 forecast had estimated 0.3%, PJM said, citing data centers' impact on the long-term outlook.

The deal in numbers

• $145 million: size of the debt facility, led by Investec, with Citi, Liberty Bank and Siemens Financial Services participating.
• 120 MWh: storage capacity of the battery serving the hyperscale data center customer in PJM.
• 5.9 GWh or more: Calibrant's battery storage in operation, under construction or under exclusive development agreements, alongside more than 2.2 GW.
• About 2% or less of that total is the PJM battery financed in this deal (list.solar calculation).
• 66,000 MW, nearly: PJM's forecast 10-year rise in summer peak, to about 222,000 MW in 2036.
• 36%, roughly: that rise compared with PJM's current generating capacity of about 182,000 MW (list.solar calculation).

Calibrant develops, owns and operates on-site energy systems for large power users, and is backed by Macquarie Asset Management. Its batteries let energy-intensive sites control when they draw power from the grid, which the company says speeds up interconnection and reduces the need for costly grid upgrades. In February, it signed a definitive agreement for a 23-MWh battery at Iron Mountain's New Jersey data center, paired with an existing 7.2-MW rooftop solar system.

"Data center operators are choosing on-site energy storage because it is a fast, reliable, and effective way to get online and operate as responsible grid citizens," CEO Phil Martin said in the statement.

Martin said the financial close comes with site mobilization for the hyperscale data center. Calibrant's pipeline includes additional sites with the same customer, the company said. It gave no date for the PJM battery to start operating.