April 4 (Reuters) - Renewable utility firm Alternus

Clean Energy ( ALCE ) said on Thursday it had formed a joint

venture with renewable energy developer Acadia Energy to

co-develop 200 megawatts (MW) of microgrid projects in New York

State.

The joint venture will focus on developing and operating a

portfolio of microgrid projects over the next two-to-three

years, the company said in a statement.

The projects in the joint venture are expected to begin

achieving commercial operations within two years, it said.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT

President Joe Biden passed the largest climate change

legislation in U.S. history in 2022, meant to touch off a boom

in American clean energy development.

The United States is set to build renewable energy capacity

of 337 gigawatts (GW) between 2023 and 2028, according to the

International Energy Agency Renewables 2023 report.

KEY QUOTES

"Acadia's impressive pipeline of renewable, utility-scale

energy projects is precisely the type of asset portfolio we are

targeting as we expand our footprint in the U.S. market," CEO

Vincent Browne said.

CONTEXT

Last week, the Biden Administration announced $4 billion in

tax credits for over 100 projects across 35 states to boost

manufacturing of clean energy equipment and reduce greenhouse

gas emissions at industrial facilities.

BY THE NUMBERS

Alternus' portfolio consists of about 168 MW in power

generation capacity across Italy, Poland, Netherlands, Romania

in Europe and Tennessee in the United States, according to LSEG

data.

Acadia has an existing potential project pipeline of over

1.5-2 GW of renewable energy projects in New York, with an

average size of 20-50 MW per project.