March 20 (Reuters) - KKR said on Wednesday it

would buy a majority stake in Avantus, a U.S. developer of large

utility-scale solar and solar-plus-storage projects.

The private equity firm, alongside Avantus' existing

investor EIG, expects to invest at least $1 billion in the

company.

The solar developer could see growth in demand on

expectations for lower interest rates this year, coupled with

incentives and benefits for clean energy firms under the

Inflation Reduction Act.

Avantus, previously known as 8minute Solar Energy, owns

a project pipeline of 30 gigawatts (GW) of solar and 94 GW hours

(GWh) of battery storage. It has sold 6.5 GWp and 6.3 GWh of

solar and storage projects, respectively.