Siemens and Australian investor Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG) have announced a new US-focused distributed-energy joint venture, which will build, own and operate solar and battery plants for the commercial, industrial and not-for-profit sectors.

The new company, Calibrant Energy, will offer energy-as-a-service solutions at no upfront cost to “corporate and industrial clients, as well as municipalities, universities, schools and hospitals facing rising energy costs and service outages caused by extreme weather and natural disasters”.

Calibrant will perform total lifecycle management of every project, including planning, design, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance.

“Calibrant will build onsite energy solutions that seek to deliver immediate cost savings, cost certainty, resilience and low-cost energy grid augmentation,” the new company said in a statement.

“This venture is about making it simple for the customer,” added Greg Callman, global head of energy technology at Macquarie Capital.

Offering will include solar panels, solar-plus-battery solutions, standalone batteries, microgrids, combined heat and power, and “centralized heating and cooling infrastructure upgrades”.

“With industry-leading technology, deep sector expertise and flexible financing capabilities, Calibrant is well positioned to be a transformative leader in distributed energy and accelerate the transition toward a greener economy,” said Chris Archer, GIG’s head of Americas.

Two branches of the German company are participating in the joint venture — Siemens Smart Infrastructure, a business unit of the US legal entity Siemens Industry Inc, and its US-based financing arm, Siemens Financial Services Inc (SFS).

“Combining Siemens’ innovative technology solutions and — together with GIG — adding our own financing and risk-management expertise, Calibrant Energy will help enable customers to obtain resilient low-cost energy and meet sustainability goals with no upfront cost,” said SFS chief executive Anthony Casciano.