Engie and Axium Acquire Microgrid and District Energy System in Boston

April 4, 2018
Engie North America and Axium Infrastructure have completed the acquisition of a microgrid and district energy system serving six Harvard-affiliated medical institutions in Massachusetts.

Engie North America and Axium Infrastructure have completed the acquisition of a microgrid and district energy system serving six Harvard-affiliated medical institutions in Massachusetts.

Operating jointly as Longwood Energy Partners, the companies purchased the energy system from Mayflower Energy Partners, a joint venture of Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners and Veolia.

The energy system serves the medical facilities under long-term utility contract through 2051.

Located within Boston’s Longwood Medical Area, the microgrid and district energy system provide energy for several world-renowned hospitals: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health, and Joslin Diabetes Clinic.

The microgrid and district energy system can produce 99 MW of electricity, 1,100,000 lbs/hr of steam, and 42,000 tons of chilled water. They are integral to the day-to-day operation of the medical facilities, which are active in critical research. The hospitals have approximately 2,000 beds and serve more than 100,000 inpatients and 2.4 million outpatients annually.

“This project is perfectly in line with Engie’s strategy to drive customer-centric approaches, and we’re excited to bring our experience in energy production, operation, efficiency, procurement, and commodity risk management to the table,” said Frank Demaille, president and CEO of Engie North America.

Engie North America is a subsidiary of energy giant Engie, an independent power producer and energy efficiency services provider, with operations in 70 countries employing 150,000 people, including 1,000 researchers in 11 research and development centers.

Engie operates more than 250 low-carbon urban heating and cooling networks in 13 countries, including in the London Olympic Park, the cities of Paris, Marseille, Barcelona, and Lisbon, and Cyberjaya (Malaysia). The company also has a 40 percent stake in Tabreed, which has more than 70 district cooling plants located throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council in the Middle East.

Axium, an independent portfolio manager, has more than 100 core energy, transportation, and social infrastructure assets in its North America portfolio. Axium manages over $2 billion in assets, with about $1 billion in co-investments

“Axium continues to focus on developing relationships with high quality partners and counterparts, under long-term agreements providing for strong and predictable cash flows,” said Thierry Vandal, President of Axium Infrastructure US.

Together, Engie and Axium also hold a 50-year contract to operate and optimize the Ohio State University’s utility system for its campus in Columbus, Ohio.

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About the Author

Elisa Wood | Editor-in-Chief

Elisa Wood is an award-winning writer and editor who specializes in the energy industry. She is chief editor and co-founder of Microgrid Knowledge and serves as co-host of the publication’s popular conference series. She also co-founded RealEnergyWriters.com, where she continues to lead a team of energy writers who produce content for energy companies and advocacy organizations.

She has been writing about energy for more than two decades and is published widely. Her work can be found in prominent energy business journals as well as mainstream publications. She has been quoted by NPR, the Wall Street Journal and other notable media outlets.

“For an especially readable voice in the industry, the most consistent interpreter across these years has been the energy journalist Elisa Wood, whose Microgrid Knowledge (and conference) has aggregated more stories better than any other feed of its time,” wrote Malcolm McCullough, in the book, Downtime on the Microgrid, published by MIT Press in 2020.

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