Five years ago, Aypa Power (known then as NRStor C&I) was duking it out in the commercial and industrial energy storage market in Canada. Blackstone Energy Partners, the alternative asset manager’s energy-focused PE arm, acquired the company in March 2020, broadening its focus to utility-scale, hybrid clean energy and storage assets in the North America region.
The rebranding to “Aypa,” which translates to “earth” in the Quechuan language of the Indigenous people of the Andes, reflects the company’s commitment “to creating a greener, more sustainable planet for generations to come,” it says.
The new financing package for Aypa’s Vidal facility in San Bernardino County, Calif., will support the development of 160 megawatts of solar generation alongside 640-megawatt hours of battery energy storage. The goal: to dispatch clean energy to California’s grid and support the state’s goal of reaching carbon-free electricity by 2045.
Local benefits
Lenders in the debt funding round include US Bancorp Impact Finance, a subsidiary of US Bank, Associated Bank, Siemens Financial Services and Zions Bancorporation. Aypa aims “to deliver grid-scale assets that generate compelling, long-term returns,” said the company’s Marc Atlas.
The Vidal project, which is expected to come online next year, will generate and store clean electricity for San Diego Community Power, under a long-term power purchase agreement. The nonprofit public power provider operates as a community choice aggregator, a program that allows local governments and communities to purchase competitively priced power.
The Vidal project is projected to generate over $13.5 million in local economic benefits and create up to 260 construction jobs in the San Bernardino County region.
