Scout buys 369-MW solar project in Illinois from RES

Scout Clean Energy LLC has acquired a 369-MW direct current (DC) solar project in Illinois and expects to invest more than USD 400 million (EUR 353m) to build the park, the Colorado-based renewables developer and operator said on Thursday.

Scout, a portfolio company of investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, purchased the project from the original developer, UK-based RES, with whom it has partnered before.

The project, called Blue Sky Solar, will be built near Morris in Grundy County. It has approved development plans and is expected to receive its full interconnection agreement in the third quarter of 2022. The solar power plant is anticipated to go online in 2024 and to feed an estimated 585,000 MWh of power a year into the PJM grid when up and running.

"The Blue Sky project is one of the largest solar projects approved to date in the PJM and is the second Midwest solar project Scout has added to its expanding renewables portfolio this year,” said Scout chief executive and founder Michael Rucker.

Just last week the company announced a deal to acquire a 112-MW DC solar project in Missouri. It will end 2021 with a 1,200-MW DC operating portfolio in the US and a development pipeline of more than 12,000 MW DC of wind, solar and battery storage projects.

Rucker said that Blue Sky is another step in Scout's rapid growth and that the company is set to announce more project investments and power purchase agreement (PPA) completions in early 2022.

(USD 1 = EUR 0.882)

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