ImpactAlpha, Feb. 21 – Cost curves for renewables are falling fast and everything needs to be rebuilt. Welcome to the resource revolution that Scott Jacobs and Jigar Shah spotted years ago.
Jacobs and Shah founded Generate in 2014 and this month closed on $1 billion in financing. The capital will be invested in long-term sustainable-infrastructure-as-a-service to roll out solar, battery storage, electric vehicles, wastewater treatment, energy efficiency and other solutions that more than pay for themselves over time.
Generate Capital raises $1 billion to scale sustainable infrastructure-as-a-service
Shah, in particular, is known for being a step ahead in the transition to the low-carbon economy. He founded SunEdison, where he pioneered “no-money-down solar” and unlocked a multi-billion-dollar market.
Jacobs co-founded the clean technologies practice at McKinsey & Co. The future is “democratized, digitized, decentralized, and decarbonized,” he told ImpactAlpha. We already have the solutions needed to solve energy poverty, water scarcity and climate change, he says. “You don’t need to reinvent the world, you just need to rebuild it.”
Generate owns and operates sustainable infrastructure for companies, schools and cities. Generate’s investors include AustralianSuper, Queensland Investment Corp., Railways Pension in the U.K. and AP2 in Sweden.
“It matters a lot that they’re paying attention,” Shah told Greentech Media. “If we’re going to save the world from climate change, these are the guys who are going to have to weigh in on whether this is a good investment.”
After Building SunEdison, Jigar Shah Eyes $1 Trillion Opportunities
