Convergent Energy
New York, NY
Founded in 2011
Differentiators and Strategic Insights
Convergent Energy & Power has cultivated a set of distinct competitive advantages that underpin its market position and growth strategy. These differentiators are not incidental but are deeply integrated into the company's operational fabric and commercial approach. The two primary pillars of its differentiation are its proprietary, data-driven technology platform, PEAK IQ®, and a proactive, commercially leveraged Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) strategy. Together, these elements enable Convergent's unique "Flexible Giant" market positioning.
PEAK IQ® is Convergent's proprietary, artificial intelligence-powered asset management platform and is consistently positioned as the central nervous system of its business. It is the engine that enables the company's performance-based business model and maximizes the value of its owned and operated assets.
Active Project Pipeline
Project
EAST 48 STREET
In Progress
EAST GUN HILL ROAD
Late Development
CENTRAL AVENUE
Pre-Construction
EAST BAY AVENUE
Pre-Construction
RICHMOND ROAD
Pre-Construction
Background
Convergent Energy & Power (Convergent) stands as one of the most established independent developers of energy storage solutions in North America. Its history is defined by early-mover advantage, a strategically architected founding team, and a recent leadership evolution that signals a transition to institutional scale.
Convergent was established in late 2011, a time when the concept of large-scale battery energy storage was still nascent and largely unproven in commercial applications. This early entry into the market distinguishes Convergent from a host of newer competitors, providing it with a decade-plus of operational experience and market intelligence that is difficult to replicate. The company was founded on the visionary premise that energy storage would become the "linchpin of the clean energy transition". This core belief, which anticipated the critical role storage would play in enabling widespread renewable energy adoption, has since become a fundamental consensus within the global energy industry. By identifying this opportunity early, Convergent positioned itself as a "trailblazer," delivering numerous industry "firsts" and proving the technical and economic viability of commercial, industrial, and utility-scale battery storage long before supportive policies like the standalone storage Investment Tax Credit (ITC) became federal law.
The company's strategic foundation is deeply rooted in the complementary expertise of its co-founders, Johannes Rittershausen and Frank Genova. Their respective backgrounds represent a microcosm of the essential skills required to navigate the complexities of the energy storage sector, blending an insider's understanding of utility operations with the pragmatic rigor of project finance and development.
Johannes Rittershausen (Co-CEO): His professional experience was forged within Southern California Edison (SCE), one of the largest and most innovative investor-owned utilities in the United States. During his tenure from 2007 to 2011, he held roles in power procurement, strategic planning, and, critically, the advanced technology group, where he focused on energy storage, SmartGrid initiatives, and electric vehicle readiness. This experience provided Convergent with an invaluable, built-in understanding of utility needs, grid constraints, ISO market mechanics, and the regulatory landscape from the customer's perspective.
Frank Genova (Co-CEO): His expertise lies in project development and finance, honed during his time with Fisher Brothers and Plaza Construction. His work centered on renewable energy development, the integration of complex mechanical and electrical systems, and corporate strategy. This background equipped Convergent with the crucial capabilities to finance, permit, and construct capital-intensive energy infrastructure projects.
Primary Market Focus
Convergent Energy & Power has carved out a distinct and strategic position in the North American energy storage market. Its go-to-market strategy is characterized by a dual focus on high-value customer segments, a disciplined geographic footprint, a unique risk-mitigating business model, and a specialization in commercially proven technologies. This approach allows the company to operate in a highly competitive "Goldilocks" niche that avoids direct competition with the largest market players on standardized projects while leveraging its financial and technical sophistication to outperform smaller developers.
Customer Segmentation: A Dual Focus on C&I and Utility Clients
Convergent's market strategy is built on serving two primary customer segments, allowing for diversified revenue streams and the ability to capture value across different parts of the energy ecosystem.
Commercial & Industrial (C&I): The company provides behind-the-meter energy storage and solar-plus-storage solutions for large, energy-intensive industrial customers. This includes blue-chip clients such as Shell, Ford, and the NSG Group. For these customers, Convergent's systems are designed to deliver tangible financial benefits, primarily by reducing electricity costs through peak demand shaving, which can lower energy bills by up to 40%. Beyond cost savings, these solutions also help C&I clients lower their carbon footprint and enhance their operational reliability.
Utilities and Grid Operators: Convergent develops and operates grid-scale solutions for a range of utility partners, including investor-owned utilities (IOUs) like Potomac Edison (a FirstEnergy subsidiary), National Grid, and Orange & Rockland; municipal utilities such as West Boylston Municipal Light Plant (WBMLP); and grid operators. For these entities, Convergent's projects serve critical grid functions, such as deferring costly transmission and distribution (T&D) infrastructure upgrades—a strategy known as a Non-Wires Alternative (NWA)—managing system-wide peak loads, and firming intermittent renewable energy sources to improve overall grid stability.
Financing & Company Backing
Convergent Energy & Power's growth from an early-stage pioneer to a leading infrastructure platform has been fueled by a sophisticated and powerful financial engine. The company's trajectory was fundamentally altered by its acquisition by a premier energy infrastructure private equity firm, which provided not just capital but the balance sheet and credibility to compete for and win gigawatt-hour-scale projects. Subsequently, Convergent has demonstrated the financial acumen of a major infrastructure firm, assembling a diversified capital stack from a variety of public and private sources to optimize project returns and accelerate deployment.
The ECP Acquisition: A Private Equity Powerhouse Steps In
The most significant inflection point in Convergent's corporate history occurred in June 2019, when the company was acquired by Energy Capital Partners (ECP). ECP is a leading private equity investor with a deep specialization in energy transition and decarbonization infrastructure, managing over $31 billion in capital commitments. Prior to this transaction, Convergent was backed by Yorktown Partners, another energy-focused private equity firm. The sale to ECP signified a strategic graduation from a venture-backed developer to a core platform asset for one of the sector's most influential investors.
Convergent is a strategic component of ECP's Fund IV, a $6.8 billion fund, with a specific capital allocation of several hundred million dollars explicitly earmarked for Convergent's projects. This structure provides direct, efficient, and scalable access to capital, described within the company as a "straightforward capital request process," which is a significant competitive advantage over independent developers who must raise project-specific financing on a deal-by-deal basis.
Capitalization and Investment Trajectory: Fueling Over $1 Billion in Growth
The impact of ECP's acquisition is most clearly visible in the exponential growth of Convergent's project portfolio and associated capital deployment. The total capital invested in or committed to projects has scaled rapidly:
Circa 2021: Over $350 million
Early 2023: Over $500 million
Mid-2025: Over $1 billion
This trajectory demonstrates a dramatic acceleration in deployment capability following the ECP acquisition. It is important to note that some public data sources, such as Pitchbook, which report a total fundraising amount of $12.8 million, are misleading. This figure likely reflects early-stage venture capital raised prior to the acquisition and fails to capture the far more significant project-level financing model enabled by ECP's ownership, which is the true measure of the company's financial scale.
Traction and Market Position
Convergent Energy & Power's market traction is substantiated by a rapidly growing portfolio of contracted and operational assets, a roster of blue-chip customers, and a series of marquee projects that serve as tangible proof of its strategic execution. The company's project portfolio is not merely a collection of wins but a deliberate roadmap showcasing its capabilities across its target customer segments, geographies, and applications. The growth from a portfolio of 120 MW / 240 MWh in 2021 to over 800 MW / 1 GWh by mid-2025, backed by over $1 billion in committed capital, underscores its successful scaling and market acceptance.
Marquee Utility-Scale Projects: Demonstrating Grid-Level Impact
Convergent's utility-scale projects highlight its ability to solve complex grid challenges for a diverse range of utility partners.
Puerto Rico Portfolio: This is Convergent's cornerstone project, a massive undertaking designed to enhance the resilience and reliability of Puerto Rico's fragile electric grid. Backed by a $584.5 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy, the portfolio includes a 100 MW solar PV system integrated with a 55 MW / 55 MWh battery system in Coamo, along with three large standalone battery projects in Caguas (25 MW / 100 MWh), Peñuelas (100 MW / 400 MWh), and Ponce (up to 100 MW / 400 MWh). This project positions Convergent as a key partner in one of North America's most critical grid modernization efforts.
Orange & Rockland (New York): In Warwick, NY, Convergent designed, constructed, and now operates a 12 MW / 57 MWh battery system for O&R, a subsidiary of Con Edison. The project serves as a Non-Wires Alternative (NWA), allowing the utility to increase capacity at its Wisner substation to serve growing demand without building costly new traditional infrastructure.
Potomac Edison (Maryland): This 1.75 MW / 8.4 MWh project is strategically more significant than its size suggests. It serves as a textbook NWA for a rural Potomac Edison distribution line prone to weather-related outages. By successfully implementing this project for a subsidiary of a major utility like FirstEnergy, Convergent has created a powerful and highly marketable case study for a solution that addresses a multi-billion-dollar challenge for utilities across the country: aging infrastructure and load growth.
West Boylston Municipal Light Plant (Massachusetts): Convergent broke ground on a 3 MW / 9 MWh utility-scale battery system for this municipally-owned utility. The project is designed to help WBMLP stabilize and reduce transmission and capacity costs for its customers in the ISO New England market, demonstrating Convergent's ability to serve public power entities in addition to large IOUs.
Convergent's C&I projects demonstrate its ability to deliver on its no-Capex, shared-savings promise for large industrial energy users.
NSG Group (Ontario, Canada): Convergent delivered a 5 MW / 10 MWh behind-the-meter battery system for the Pilkington automotive glass plant in Collingwood, Ontario. The project is designed for peak shaving to reduce the facility's exposure to high demand charges. Notably, the project was successfully constructed and commissioned during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, a testament to the company's operational resilience and project management capabilities.
Shell New Energies (Ontario, Canada): Convergent partnered with Shell to develop two battery storage systems at their Canadian facilities. One of these systems was the largest behind-the-meter battery in North America as of 2019, reducing the facility's energy consumption by up to one-third of its typical demand. This early, high-profile project helped establish Convergent's credibility with major industrial clients.
Clemens Food Group (Pennsylvania): In the PJM Interconnection market, Convergent is partnering with Clemens Food Group to install an energy storage system at its Hatfield, PA facility to mitigate the impact of rising capacity prices, a key cost driver in that market.
Other Key Insights
Convergent's core business model is to finance, own, and operate its energy storage solutions, a crucial distinction that sets it apart from pure-play engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) firms or technology vendors. This long-term ownership mentality aligns the company's interests with those of its customers and is the foundation of its value proposition.
A cornerstone of this model, particularly for its C&I customers, is the no-Capex, performance-based contract. Under this structure, Convergent provides 100% of the upfront financing for the project. The customer avoids any capital expenditure, and Convergent's revenue is directly tied to the verified savings the system generates. As the company states, "we only get paid if we create value". This Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) approach effectively removes the primary barrier to adoption—large upfront capital investment—and dramatically shortens the sales cycle for industrial clients.
For utility partners, this model is equally compelling as it shifts the technology, construction, and performance risk from the utility and its ratepayers to Convergent. The utility procures a reliable grid service via an operating expense rather than undertaking a large, complex capital project itself. This business model is only viable due to the company's deep confidence in its proprietary software to reliably forecast and capture revenue streams, making the business model and its technology inextricably linked. This creates a significant competitive moat, as challengers cannot easily replicate the no-Capex offering without a similarly proven, data-rich optimization platform and the substantial balance sheet required to back the performance guarantees.