Brookfield Renewable ploughs $1.54 bln in buyouts to boost clean-energy portfolio

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Brookfield Renewable Corp on Thursday disclosed acquisition of two clean power companies for about $1.54 billion as the alternative energy investor seeks to expand its renewables portfolio.

Brookfield said it would acquire Scout Clean Energy from investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners for $1 billion, while it had closed the buyout of Standard Solar for about $540 million.

This comes a month after the passage of the $430-billion Inflation Reduction Act, seen as the biggest climate change package in U.S. history, which has led to increased dealmaking in the renewables sector as it provides substantial tax credits for up to a decade.

"We underwrote both transactions without the benefit of the Inflation Reduction Act so the additional incentives now available represent a significant boost to each business," Brookfield Renewable Chief Executive Officer Connor Teskey said.

Brookfield Renewable, a unit of Brookfield Asset Management Inc, said it could also invest $350 million and $160 million in Scout and Standard Solar, respectively.

Colorado-based Scout's portfolio includes over 1,200 megawatts (MW) of operational wind assets, and a pipeline of over 22 GW of wind, solar and storage projects across 24 states, including almost 2,500 MW of under construction and late-stage projects.

Maryland-based Standard Solar has about 500 MW of operational and under-construction assets and a development pipeline of almost 2,000 MW.

Bermuda-based Brookfield owns and operates an almost 65 GW diversified portfolio of renewables in the U.S. and has invested or allocated $3.5 billion to the North American clean energy sector this year. (Reporting by Ankit Kumar and Ruhi Soni; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)