Sunergise buys Infratec to move from rooftops into utility-scale solar

Sunergise has agreed to buy Infratec New Zealand Limited from WEL Networks for an undisclosed price. Sunergise chief executive and significant shareholder Paul Makumbe told BusinessDesk the deal will be paid for from existing cash within the Sunergise Group, with no new investors brought in as part of it. Infratec had previously operated under Alpine Energy, and WEL Networks acquired it in late 2020.

The seller's reasons are simple. WEL said the sale lets it focus on its core electricity network and generation operations. Makumbe said WEL ran a targeted sale process, approaching parties that might want to buy Infratec.

For a facilities or energy lead at a New Zealand manufacturer, or an infrastructure operator weighing solar plus batteries, the useful question is simple. What can the combined company build that neither could build alone?

A rooftop specialist buys a solar farm builder

Measured by megawatts, the buyer is the smaller of the two. Sunergise has installed more than 50MW of solar since 2012, spread across more than 200 commercial installations. Infratec has built 194MW of solar and deployed 49MWh of battery storage. Most of Sunergise's work is on commercial rooftops, such as a 2.3MW installation at the Mānawa Bay shopping precinct in South Auckland.

According to BusinessDesk, Sunergise's past work includes a 5.3MW solar system it installed on the rooftops of Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. More than 50MW across more than 200 sites suggests a business built on many mid-sized jobs, with Fisher & Paykel at the large end.

Infratec works at a different scale. Its portfolio includes New Plymouth Airport Solar, the Te Herenga o Te Rā solar farm located in the Bay of Plenty, and the Taiohi solar farm in northern Waikato, which is rated at 30MWp. Taiohi alone is more than five times the size of the Fisher & Paykel rooftop system.

WEL gave a broader number for Infratec's pipeline. According to WEL, over the past six years Infratec had supplied design and development services for energy infrastructure projects totalling more than 250MW of combined capacity. That total includes more than 100MW of assets in the Waikato region that are either completed or under construction. The 250MW figure covers design and development work, so it measures something broader than the 194MW Infratec has built. The two numbers describe different things and should not be added together.

BusinessDesk put it directly: the acquisition gives Sunergise utility-scale project delivery capability it did not have before. In Sunergise's own announcement, Makumbe says Infratec has "a client list that includes some of New Zealand's largest infrastructure operators." For Sunergise, that client list matters as much as the megawatts, because utility-scale buyers are a different customer group from the commercial property owners it has served so far.

One contractor from roof to solar farm

The combined business will offer project development, engineering, construction, financing, operation and maintenance to commercial, industrial and utility-scale customers in New Zealand and the Pacific. Sunergise's announcement calls the result a full-service renewable energy platform, covering the full project lifecycle from development and engineering through to long-term operation and maintenance. The group will employ about 100 people across New Zealand and the Pacific.

In Sunergise's announcement, Makumbe described the two offerings as fully complementary. His wider argument is that the region's energy transition needs investment at both ends: commercial rooftops and large-scale generation.

The real test of that pitch is a client with sites at both scales. Picture an industrial group that wants rooftop arrays on its factories and a battery-backed solar farm elsewhere. It could deal with a single counterparty for design, finance and maintenance, rather than splitting the work between a commercial installer and a utility-scale builder. Whether that saves money will depend on the contract, but it should mean fewer handoffs.

Contracts continue, but the name is undecided

Sunergise says existing contracts, client relationships and service commitments at both businesses carry on without interruption. The brand is less settled. Makumbe told BusinessDesk that no decision has been made on rebranding or integrating Infratec. He said the group values the name and the customer trust behind it, and that any rebranding decision would not be rushed.

WEL's description sounded more settled. It said Infratec would continue delivering projects across New Zealand and internationally under the Sunergise brand, including projects already underway. The buyer and the seller are describing the transition a little differently, which is why the practical step below is worth taking.

For a business that only needs a rooftop system, very little changes. Sunergise was already doing that work. The deal changes the larger tenders. Makumbe declined to give revenue figures but told BusinessDesk the combined turnover would be significantly higher than Sunergise's on its own.

The Pacific partners become one company

Sunergise and Infratec have partnered before. Starting in 2020, the two jointly delivered five renewable energy plants in Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau. One of these was a project Sunergise calls New Zealand's first renewable energy project in Micronesia. Their joint work won the National Energy Globe Award for Nauru, and the Sustainable Energy Association of NZ gave it a Best Grid-Connected System award.

This is Sunergise's second acquisition of 2026. Earlier in 2026 the group acquired Fiji-based Clay Energy from Todd's Pacific solar operations. According to BusinessDesk, Clay Energy installed the largest solar farm in the South Pacific, which powers more than 10,300 homes in Tonga. Sunergise says the Infratec deal strengthens its position in the Pacific, where it operates through Clay Energy.

The group now includes Sunergise, PowerSmart, Clay Energy and Infratec. With this deal, a project partnership that dates to 2020 comes under one owner. For Pacific utilities and governments, that means the companies behind an award-winning grid-connected project and the region's largest solar farm now sit in the same group, rather than having to team up for each tender.

Solar deals are up, and so is competition

Deal activity in solar rose this year. Mercom's 9M and Q3 2026 Solar Funding and M&A Report counted 205 project acquisitions totalling 34.4GW in the first nine months of 2026, compared with 166 totalling 29GW in the same period of 2025. Those figures cover project purchases worldwide, not company takeovers.

The biggest platform deals are much larger than this one. In September, Mercom noted, investment firm Qualitas Energy signed a definitive agreement to buy Cero Generation's core European platform from Macquarie Group, a 5.8GW portfolio of solar PV and battery storage projects across the UK, Italy and Spain. The Sunergise deal is a small one by comparison, but it reflects the same move to combine solar and storage capability in one business.

Closer to home, Dealroom's deal note says larger investors are also building positions in New Zealand renewables: Foresight agreed to buy NZ Clean Energy in March, while Anza Power acquired two consented solar projects totalling 205MW in September. Dealroom says Sunergise's move signals the market shifting beyond rooftop solar toward utility-scale generation and storage. Three deals are a narrow basis for a trend, but they do point the same way. If owners and investors keep adding utility-scale capacity, those projects will need contractors with utility-scale experience.

Sunergise is not signalling a buying spree. Makumbe told BusinessDesk the company has no immediate plans for more acquisitions, though market conditions could change that. He added that the group is looking for a wider pool of investors and capital to fund its next phase of growth. If that happens, it will show how far the company intends to push into utility-scale work. Infratec is being paid for with cash on hand. A combined business that offers financing as well as construction can only fund as many solar farms as its balance sheet allows.