Flash: SunEdison to Acquire PV Developer Axio Power

Consolidation of the solar developer ecosystem.

Eric Wesoff June 02, 2011

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

SunEdison has agreed to acquire Axio Power, a solar PV power developer, according to an article in SparkSpread. We've verified the news from separate sources. Financial terms have not yet been disclosed. Axio was advised on the transaction by Marathon Capital.

Contacts at Axio and SunEdison have not yet responded to our inquiries.

Shayle Kann of Greentech Media Research predicted Axio as a prime acquisition target in December of last year. Kann comments: "Axio Power has been among the most established of the remaining pure-play utility PV project developers in the U.S. Axio has a robust pipeline in Ontario along with a PPA in California, a number of smaller projects in the Northeast, and a variety of earlier-stage projects. Remaining established pure-play developers include Lincoln Renewable Energy, Agile Energy, Foresight Renewables, and American Capital Energy." He adds, "This acquisition would be the latest in a series of developer purchases in the U.S. Examples of others include: First Solar's purchase of Nextlight, OCI's purchase of Cornerstone, LDK's purchase of Solar Power, Inc., Sharp's purchase of Recurrent Energy, and even MEMC's purchase of SunEdison. If I had to place a bet, I would guess Lincoln Renewable Energy will be the next to go."

Axio has a pipeline of more than 500 megawatts of utility-scale photovoltaic power projects in the western U.S. and Ontario, Canada. The projects include Cascade Solar, an 18.5-megawatt photovoltaic development in Sunfair, California. Axio previously did business as Helios Energy and Greenlight Sunstream Canada, which was co-founded by Tim Derrick, CEO, and Kevin Christy, COO, according to SparkSpread.

GTM Research tracks the projects and financing activity in utility-scale solar in the U.S. Utility PV Market Tracker.