The US renewable energy market in 2025 operated against a backdrop of significant political uncertainty. New trade policies, shifting federal tax credit timelines, and executive orders restricting permitting on federal land all created headwinds. Yet despite those pressures, the industry delivered a record-breaking year and the volume of major deals proved that institutional capital’s conviction in American clean energy remained firmly intact.
The US Renewable Energy Market in 2025
In terms of raw capacity additions, 2025 was the strongest year for US power infrastructure in over two decades. A total of 54 GW of new utility-scale generation and storage came online, with clean energy technologies making up the clear majority of that total. Solar led all technologies, accounting for the largest single share of new capacity, while battery storage posted its biggest-ever year with 15 GW added,a 35% jump over 2024. Clean energy investment across the full US economy reached a new high of $378 billion, and corporate procurement of zero-carbon electricity set an all-time annual record at 29.5 GW of power purchase agreements signed. In the first half of the year alone, solar accounted for more than half of all new generating capacity added to the grid
Despite those headwinds, deal activity remained robust. After analysing transaction data across the US, we identified the following companies as the most active and noteworthy renewable energy investors in the country in 2025.
1) Ares Management (Los Angeles)
Ares Management, founded in 1997, is a global alternative investment manager with a diversified private markets platform covering credit, private equity, real estate, infrastructure and secondaries. Its infrastructure strategy has approximately $25.3 billion of assets under management as of December 2025, with its Infrastructure Opportunities strategy focused on value-add investments in climate and sustainable infrastructure. The Infrastructure Opportunities team has deployed $14 billion in over 350 assets and companies, with a team of approximately 30 investment professionals. In 2025, Ares Management’s Infrastructure Opportunities Fund acquired a 49% stake in a 1.6 GW portfolio from EDP Renováveis (EDPR), valued at USD 2.9 billion. The portfolio spans solar, wind, and storage assets across four US markets, all underpinned by long-term power purchase agreements with an average duration of 18 years the kind of contracted, stable cash flow profile that sits squarely at the heart of Ares’s infrastructure investment strategy.
2) KKR
KKR is one of the world’s largest alternative asset managers, with $28.6 billion invested in or committed to our own funds and portfolio companies. The firm is led by co-CEOs Joseph Bae and Scott Nuttall, who have guided KKR’s increasingly active push into energy transition assets across North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific. In 2023, KKR launched its dedicated Global Climate Transition strategy, focused on renewables, transportation, and decarbonisation investments across multiple geographies. In 2025, KKR acquired a 50% stake in TotalEnergies’ 1.4 GW North American solar portfolio, comprising both utility-scale and distributed generation projects, for $950 million. The assets continue to be operated by TotalEnergies under long-term contracts, making it a clean financial transaction that gives KKR contracted, operational renewable cash flows at scale.
3) Pattern Energy
Pattern Energy is one of the world’s largest privately owned developers and operators of clean energy and transmission infrastructure, headquartered in San Francisco and Houston. With more than 30 facilities across North America, Pattern’s operations deliver affordable, reliable power to millions of customers, with a nearly 10,000 MW operating and under-construction portfolio. The company is majority owned by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments). With nearly 30 GW in its pipeline, Pattern has positioned itself to lead the next phase of energy demand, with its ability to develop and deliver large-scale transmission alongside generation cited as a core differentiator.
In January 2026, Pattern announced a definitive agreement to acquire Cordelio Power, an independent power producer wholly owned by CPP Investments. Through this deal, Pattern will acquire a 1,550 MW operating and in-construction portfolio from Cordelio, comprising 16 wind, solar, and storage projects in Canada and the US. Pattern will also acquire the majority of Cordelio’s wind and storage development projects in key US target markets, as well as Cordelio’s team.
4) LS Power
Founded in 1990, LS Power is a premier development, investment, and operating company focused on the North American power and energy infrastructure sector, with leading platforms across generation, transmission and energy expansion solutions. Since its inception, LS Power has developed or acquired 50,000 MW of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, battery energy storage, and natural gas-fired facilities. In July 2025, LS Power agreed to acquire bp Wind Energy North America Inc. from BP as part of the oil major’s $20 billion divestment programme. The acquisition adds approximately 1,300 MW of operating onshore wind capacity across 10 projects to LS Power’s diversified portfolio, bringing its total US generation capacity to more than 22,300 MW. bp Wind Energy was integrated into Clearlight Energy, one of LS Power’s renewable generation platforms, which now manages approximately 4,300 MW of wind, solar, and battery storage assets across the US and Canada. The acquired projects span Indiana, Kansas, South Dakota, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, and Idaho.
5) Clearway Energy Group
Clearway Energy, Inc. is one of the largest owners of clean energy generation assets in the US, with a portfolio of approximately 12 GW of gross capacity in 27 states, including 9.2 GW of wind, solar, and energy storage. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: CWEN) and is led by President and CEO Craig Cornelius. In October 2025, Clearway announced an agreement to acquire a 613 MWac operational solar portfolio from Deriva Energy, spanning eight states with capacity concentrated in the CAISO and PJM markets. For 12 assets in the western US comprising 227 MWac, Clearway will co-invest in a 50/50 joint venture with Fengate Asset Management. The Deriva acquisition is expected to require approximately $210–230 million in corporate capital and is expected to generate a 12% estimated five-year average annual asset cash available for distribution yield.
Sources: BloombergNEF
Picture Source: Tim van der Kuip via Unsplash
