Inside the 20GW Pipeline Shaping U.S. Renewable Energy - Engie North America

Mar 17, 2026

Lolita Carry, Director of Portfolio Strategy at Engie North America, steers a multi‑gigawatt pipeline of wind, solar and batteries across US ISOs. She explains how projects move from site to FID, what kills developments in interconnection queues, and the capital recycling model behind large asset sales. She also discusses battery operations, market revenue pressure, and why scale and in‑house trading matter for deployment.

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INSIGHT

Interconnection Upgrades Can Kill A Project

Network upgrade costs from ISO cluster studies can be fatal to a project's economics.
Engie uses consultants replicating ISO models to estimate upgrade charges and watch projects drop from queues when upgrades become unaffordable.

ADVICE

Use Portfolio Reviews To Raise Or Lower Investment Bars

Prioritise projects by portfolio margin, development probability and COD timing across scenarios.
Engie runs monthly reviews with development and power marketing to compare costs, pricing and concentration risk before pushing projects.

INSIGHT

Value Is Created At All Project Stages

Engie captures value across development, construction and operations, not just one stage.
Early-stage development adds value but Engie also buys close-to-construction assets where market presence is weaker to expand reach.

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How does a major renewable operator decide what gets built, where, and with whose capital? Lolita Carry, Director of Portfolio Strategy at Engie North America, explains how Engie manages a 20GW BESS, wind, and solar pipeline across ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO.

In this episode Alejandro de Diego speaks with Lolita Carry about how one of the US's largest battery storage operators structures its investment decisions across multiple ISO markets.

They take a look at how Engie steers a 20GW development pipeline across ERCOT, PJM, MISO, and CAISO; the capital recycling model behind Engie's 2.7GW asset sale to SES; what the Broad Reach Power acquisition brought to Engie's battery portfolio; how ancillary service saturation and energy price cannibalisation are reshaping BESS investment cases; and why Engie remains bullish on batteries despite tightening revenues.

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Transmission is a Modo Energy production. Your host is Alejandro De Diego - US Market Analyst

Modo Energy helps the owners, operators, builders, and financiers of battery energy storage understand the market — and make the most out of their assets. Want all the latest power market news? Sign up for our free Weekly Dispatch newsletter: https://bit.ly/TheWeeklyDispatch

Chapters:

0:00 Introduction — Engie's 20GW pipeline and the portfolio challenge

4:01 Capital allocation and key technologies in focus

5:17 Priority ISO markets: ERCOT, PJM, MISO, CAISO

6:04 What makes each market unique

9:27 BESS + solar development: from site to FID

11:00 Risk assessment and project showstoppers

12:32 Network upgrades and interconnection queue dynamics

14:49 Raising and lowering the investment bar across markets

18:01 Where Engie captures the most value: development vs. construction vs. operations

18:59 The capital recycling model — Engie's 2.7GW SES deal explained

20:20 How grid-scale batteries operate day to day

21:45 BESS revenue decline: ancillary services, cannibalisation, and energy arbitrage

22:34 Investment stance

23:27 In-house energy management vs. external optimisers

24:07 Advantages of scale vs. smaller developers

29:10 Career advice for those entering the energy investment sector

30:20 The Broad Reach Power acquisition — lessons and integration

32:05 Final plug and contrarian view on the energy industry