Aspen Power Partners LLC, a distributed generation platform, has received a $350 million investment from funds managed by global investment firm Carlyle.

The investment supports Aspen’s growth strategy targeting the community, multifamily, and commercial and industrial (C&I) solar and storage markets. To launch this strategy, Aspen has acquired Safari Energy LLC from PPL Corp.

Founded in 2008, Safari has acquired or developed more than 600 C&I solar projects nationwide. Spanning 24 states and Washington, D.C., Safari’s projects have generated more than 893,000 MWh of electricity. Aspen has acquired Safari’s complete development platform, including its 220 MW portfolio of operating and under-construction distributed generation solar assets.

“At Carlyle, we believe investing in renewables includes investing across the value chain. This includes investing in not only large utility scale renewable energy assets, but also community solar and distributed generation more broadly,” says Pooja Goyal, chief investment officer of Carlyle’s Infrastructure Group. “We are very excited about our partnership with Aspen and look forward to facilitating the growth of their business into a distributed generation platform of scale.”

Combining Safari’s platform and assets with Aspen’s community solar portfolios and multifamily solar pipeline will create a diversified distributed generation independent power producer. Aspen will continue to support Safari’s solutions-oriented service model and expects to broaden the combined company’s flexibility to meet customers’ evolving needs within the traditionally underserved distributed generation market.

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