The Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s Sustainable Investing business and Cleanhill Partners have acquired a majority stake in EPC Power Corp., a North American supplier of utility-scale smart inverters. The strategic investment, along with a comprehensive recapitalization, positions EPC Power to expand in the U.S. market.
EPC Power’s smart inverters are suited for applications in stand-alone energy storage, solar energy storage and data center backup power. They enable the buildout of battery storage required to support the proliferation of renewable energy generation.
“EPC Power is extremely proud of the strong reputation and track record we’ve built by focusing on product innovation and forging deep relationships with our customers,” comments Devin Dilley, co-founder and CEO of EPC Power Corp. “As the world becomes more reliant on renewable energy, inverters need to continue to get smarter. Goldman Sachs and Cleanhill Partners support this vision and are committed to investing in EPC Power and our people to capitalize on this exciting market opportunity and to positively impact the U.S. energy transition.”
“In an exploding market of cleantech innovators, EPC Power stands out for its industry-leading technology, which directly supports the renewable energy transition while preserving grid reliability and performance,” say Rakesh Wilson and Ash Upadhyaya, managing partners at Cleanhill Partners, which first invested in EPC Power in 2021 when it underwrote a credit facility to support its growth; since then, the firm has also provided counsel on operational matters and facilitated strategic partnerships to help the company achieve rapid scale. “As prior investors in EPC Power, we have every confidence that the company will meet its ambitious and environmentally critical objectives and we are excited to partner with Goldman Sachs for the next stage of EPC Power’s growth.”
“EPC Power is uniquely positioned to play a critical role in the evolution of the U.S. solar and energy storage value chains and is now well capitalized to continue its trajectory of rapid growth,” states Alexander Mass, managing director of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. “As the only scaled supplier of smart inverters that are designed, engineered and 100 percent manufactured in the U.S., EPC Power is a natural continuation of our thematic investment activity in this space, in partnership with Cleanhill Partners and EPC management.”
EPC Power is based in Southern California, operating its first manufacturing facility in Poway in San Diego County, with a second U.S. manufacturing location on the East Coast scheduled to open in late 2022 to significantly expand production capacity. To support its growing customer base in Europe, EPC Power also maintains an engineering and sales office in Helsinki, Finland.