Susan Nickey Discusses HASI’s Positioning for 2026 Investments
Interview with Susan Nickey, Chief Client Officer of HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. (HASI). Originally published January 22, 2026, by Tatiana Louder in Inframation News (“HASI Seeks to Invest in Battery Storage, Solar, and Wind Projects – CCO”).
HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, Inc. (HASI), a low carbon energy investment firm, is seeking to acquire equity stakes in battery energy storage, solar, and other clean energy projects, Chief Client Officer Susan Nickey said.
The publicly listed firm aims to strengthen its presence across the US, particularly in those states where it is active like Arizona, California, and Colorado. HASI seeks to invest in projects that have reached the post–Notice to Proceed (NTP) stage – when major agreements, permits, and financing are already secured – as well as in operating projects with proven long-term cash flows.
It seeks to invest across a range of project sizes, from small-megawatt (MW) projects – such as its 2023 co-sponsor equity investment in a 48.5 MW commercial and industrial portfolio of solar projects across California – to utility-scale assets like its 2023 minority investment in AES’s six-state, 1.3 gigawatt (GW) wind and solar portfolio.
Annapolis, Maryland-based HASI is well-positioned to invest in the numerous distributed generation (DG) solar platforms up for sale, although it only invests at the project or portfolio level, not as an operator, Nickey said. France’s Engie and Austin, Texas-based RWE Clean Energy are some of the companies exploring sales of their DG businesses, as reported by this news service.
Despite broader market reluctance toward renewables, driven in part by the sunset of federal tax credits under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which ended both the Production Tax Credit (PTC) and the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for renewable projects, Nickey said HASI continues to see a strong influx of clean-energy investment opportunities.
For example, the CCO noted an increase of standalone battery energy storage (BESS) projects looking to sell down equity stakes. HASI invests in storage projects post-NTP stage, and those expected to be completed between 2029 and 2030. Storage project developers have a four-year completion window to qualify for the PTC and the ITC.
HASI focuses on contracted BESS projects, which carry lower volatility than projects selling power on a merchant basis, she said. The unforeseen need for energy capacity stemming from increased data center development has catalyzed battery storage investment opportunities, she added.
The CCO also noted that HASI continues to be interested in investing in wind energy projects although the sector is not growing at the same pace as solar because assets are harder to develop. One of HASI’s largest investments featured on HASI’s website was its USD 663m investment in Clearway Energy’s 1.6 GW portfolio of contracted, grid-connected wind, solar, and solar-plus-storage projects.
The firm could pursue some of these investments through CarbonCount Holdings 1 (CCH1), its strategic partnership with KKR, Nickey said. In May 2024, HASI signed a strategic partnership with KKR to establish CCH1 to invest up to a combined USD 2bn in sustainable infrastructure projects across the US. HASI, formerly known as Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital, will source the investments for and manage CCH1.
Although CCH1 still has a lot of dry powder left, HASI and KKR could reinvest in it or establish a new vehicle once it is fully deployed, Nickey said.
HASI has about USD 15bn in managed assets. It reported USD 238.3m in net income for the first nine months of 2025, up from USD 130m in the same period the year prior, according to its latest earnings report. It had USD 5.2bn in debt at the end of last September.