The AES Corporation is an American utility and power generation company. It owns and operates power plants, which it uses to generate and sell electricity to end users and intermediaries like utilities and industrial facilities. AES, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, is one of the world's leading power companies, generating and distributing electric power in 15 countries and employing 10,500 people worldwide. AES Corporation is a global Fortune 500 power company.
History 20th century
The company was founded on January 28, 1981, as Applied Energy Services by Roger Sant and Dennis Bakke, two appointees of the Federal Energy Administration under president Richard Nixon. The company was initially a consulting firm; it became AES Corporation, which went public in 1991. Sant was chairman, CEO, and president and Bakke was executive vice president until assuming the position of president in 1987. Bakke later became the company's CEO in 1994, serving for eight years until his resignation in 2002 in the midst of a liquidity crisis that followed the collapse of the energy giant Enron. The company's efforts to modernize the electricity grid in Tbilisi, Georgia, through its acquisition of Telasi, were documented in the feature documentary Power Trip, directed by Paul Devlin.
21st century Sant remained as executive chairman until 2003 and as a member of the board until 2006. Paul Hanrahan was appointed president and CEO and remained for ten years, overseeing the stabilization of the company. Until the early 2000s, the company followed self-management, delegating much responsibility to ordinary employees. In 2012, Hanrahan resigned his position as president and CEO of the company, and he was succeeded by Andres Gluski. As CEO, Gluski has implemented a strategy of reducing the number of countries in which AES does business, from 28 to 16, for the purpose of consolidating operations and reducing costs. Additionally, he began a program of reducing the company's total carbon emission intensity.
Bakke and Sant oversaw much of AES's initial global expansion, building power plants in 29 countries and expanding its staff from 1,400 to 32,000 employees, and also instilled a system of decentralized management that emphasized social responsibility above profit. In recent years, AES has signaled a commitment to providing its consumers and clients with renewable forms of energy, and its operations construction and provision of solar and wind-based energy storage systems.
AES acquired the assets of Indianapolis Power & Light (also known as IPL or IPALCO) in 2000. In February 2021, Indianapolis Power & Light rebranded as AES Indiana.
AES acquired the Chilean-based subsidiary Gener in 2000 and acquired DPL Inc., then known as Dayton Power & Light, in 2011. Although retaining its name for legal purposes, the company was rebranded as AES Ohio in February 2021.
In fiscal 2015, AES's total revenue was $15 billion.
In 2018, AES acquired the subsidiary sPower.AES and AIMCo Agree to Acquire sPower, the Largest Independent Solar Developer in the United States, from Fir Tree Partners. Business Wire. February 24, 2017. Accessed February 24, 2025.
In December 2021, AES acquired Community Energy Solar (Community Energy) to help deliver 4 GW of renewables in the U.S.
In March 2026, a consortium led by BlackRock subsidiary Global Infrastructure Partners and Swedish private equity firm EQT AB agreed to acquire AES for a total enterprise value of $33.7billion, including its $22.7bn of debt.
Major projects
Fluence Launched during January 2018, Fluence is a joint venture between AES Energy Storage and Siemens that is focused on the development of, and expansion of energy storage technologies and services. Chaired by former AES vice-president for energy storage platforms Stephen Coughlin, and headquartered in Washington D.C., Fluence aims to implement AES's extensive research into the potential of lithium-ion powered energy sources by relying upon Siemens' expansive global presence in the industrial sector; for the purpose of addressing the rapidly rising demand for clean energy technologies.Spector, Julian. "AES and Siemens Partner to Create New Energy Storage Powerhouse". GreenTech Media. January 11, 2018. Accessed June 14, 2018. Fluence has been deployed in 16 countries, with major projects including the following:"Energy Storage Company Fluence Launches with Unparalleled Suite of Capabilities for Customers in Over 160 Countries". http://fluenceenergy.com/. January 11. 2018. Accessed June 14, 2018.
The creation of a new 40-megawatt storage facility on behalf of San Diego Gas & Electric's new 40 MW storage facility.Colthorpe, Andy. "AES and Siemens' energy storage JV Fluence launches solar-plus-storage platform, financing". Energy Storage News. January 11, 2018. Accessed June 14, 2018. Three solar powered projects throughout Arizona and two 10 MW projects in the Dominican Republic."Energy Storage Company Fluence Launches with Unparalleled Suite of Capabilities for Customers in Over 160 Countries". http://fluenceenergy.com/. January 11. 2018. Accessed June 14, 2018. The installation of six storage projects across Germany that will provide grid stabilization. The construction of a hybrid microgrid on the Mediterranean Island of Ventotene. Said microgrid will be developed as per an agreement between Fluence and the Italian energy utility Enel, and will combine diesel generators with renewables in order to aid in the efforts to reduce carbon costs and emissions. The key technology platforms developed by Fluence include the following.
Key Fluence technologies
Fluence is expected to employ three different types of grid technology. WP:Crystal
i):SIESTORAGE: An electrical energy storage system fueled predominantly by wind and solar energy. Siestorage relies upon the closed-loop controls and pulse modulation built into its semiconductors, in order to provide consumers with increased dependability. Siestorage Platform. fluenceenergy.com. Accessed June 14, 2018.
ii):Advancion: A storage system that is made up of several small, modular nodes and powered by lithium-ion batteries, which enables the Advancion energy store system to provide consumers with a heightened degree of consistency in performance. "The Advancion Energy Storage Platform". fluenceenergy.com. Accessed June 14, 2018
iii): Sunflux Energy: Announced in January 2018, Sunflex was developed for the purpose of expanding upon the possibilities offered by photovoltaic solar energy. This technology is built to capture energy during peak solar hours in order to expand energy delivery. "The SunFlex Energy Storage Platform". Accessed June 14, 2018 TS-009-06-EN
Projected ventures using Fluence technologies Presently, the biggest project in Fluence's portfolio is a 100–400 Mwh "power center energy storage project" for Southern California Edison.Lambert, Fred. /. "AES and Siemens launch new energy storage startup to compete with Tesla Energy, will supply new world's biggest battery project". January 11, 2018. Accessed June 14, 2018. This system will be housed within AES's power center in Los Alamitos, California.
During January 2018, the subsidiary AES India, working in partnership with Mitsubishi, commenced construction of a 10 MW energy storage solution that will be located in Rohini. This storage solution, which shall operate off Fluence's Advancion technology, is projected to be the first utility-scale system to be in India. "AES and Mitsubishi Corporation Start Construction on India's First Grid-Scale Energy Storage System for Tata Power-DDL". Business Wire. January 23, 2018. Accessed June 15, 2018.
sPower Headquartered in Salt Lake City and acquired from Fir Tree Partners Inc in a purchase during 2017 as part of a joint acquisition with Alberta Investment Management Corporation, sPower is a large developer of utility-scale solar in the United States, operating across 11 states, and with particular focus on the states of California and North Carolina.Kenning, Tom. "sPower sold to AES and AIMCo for US$1.6 billion". August 1, 2017. Accessed June 15, 2018. Its current operating portfolio includes 1.3 GW worth of solar and wind based properties, in addition to over 10,000 MW worth of projects that are in the developmental stage.Swagath, BV. https://www.compelo.com/energy/news/solaero-wins-contract-to-supply-solar-panels-to-ssl/. "SolAero wins contract to supply solar panels to SSL". Accessed June 15, 2018.
Investment in drone technologies As part of an effort by AES to protect its employees from industry hazards and to improve workplace safety, the company announced a partnership with drone provider Measure to inspect their various energy infrastructures sites across 17 countries."Measure Partners With AES To Deploy Drones At Record Scale For The Energy Industry". PR Newswire. February 7, 2017. Accessed June 15, 2018.
Major properties and subsidiaries
Properties and subsidiaries in North America AES Ohio, branding for DPL Inc. – Dayton Power and Light Company AES Indiana, formerly IPL – Indianapolis Power & Light Company Premier Power AES Energy Storage. AES Energy Storage has provided some of the largest battery storage power station in the world. AES Puerto Rico AES Colón power station, Panama
Properties in South America Based in Argentina TermoAndes: Located in the province of Salta, and acquired by AES in 2000. This hybrid plants utilizes both gasoline and diesel fuels and has a production capacity of 643 MW. Alicura: Acquired by AES in the year 2000. This hydro powered plant is one of Andes' most important alternative energy assets, boasting 1,000 megawatts of generation capacity. Guillermo Brown: Located in the province of Buenos Aires, and acquired by AES in 2016. This gas turbine utilizes both natural gas and diesel fuels and has a generation capacity of 576 MW. Los Caracoles: Owned by AES Argentina, and located in [Buenos Aires]. This hydroelectric plant produces 12 MW. Although AES owns the property, the equity is publicly owned, and operations are carried out through various managerial and Observation and Measurement agreements."The AES Corporation Factsheet As Of August 8, 2017. p. 13. Accessed June 19, 2018. Paraná-GT: Purchased by AES Argentina in 2001, and located in San Nicolás de los Arroyos. This plant uses both gasoline and diesel as fuel sources, and has a total capacity of 845 megawatts. Carba Corral: Based in the province of [Salta], and owned by AES Argentina, who purchased the property in 1995. This plant has an installed capacity of 102 MW, and runs on hydro power. Sarmiento Power Plant: Owned by AES Andes, and located in San Juan Province, Argentina. This plant was acquired by AES in 1996, and runs off both gas and diesel fuel. It has an installed capacity of 33 MW, and runs off 3 Electrical gas turbines, all of which measure 11 MW. "Sarmiento". Accessed June 19, 2018.
Based in Brazil AES Brazil: Founded in 1997. Ownership is divided between AES and the Brazilian Development Bank.
AES Tietê – Brazil
Based in Chile AES Andes
Properties and subsidiaries in Europe Based in United Kingdom Ballyumford Power Station: Located on the northwestern end of Islandmagee in County Antrim. This property, purchased by AES in 2010, is the largest power station on the Irish mainland, boasting a generating capacity of 1017 megawatts.