Australian developer of renewable energy and energy storage Akaysha Energy has agreed to be purchased by BlackRock Real Assets.
BlackRock is to invest more than A$1 billion (€691 million) as part of the acquisition to fund the construction of more than 1 GW of battery storage assets across Akaysha’s nine projects in Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM).
The Climate Infrastructure division of BlackRock Real Assets has now invested in battery storage for the first time in the Asia-Pacific area.
According to BlackRock, the investment is estimated to decrease over 15 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over the course of the projects and will assist the grid at a crucial point in Australia’s energy transition.
When fully operational, Akaysha’s projects would “accelerate the rollout of a further 4000MW of supply of clean, affordable renewable energy across Australia”.
Established in 2021, Akaysha’s longer-term plans include developing future energy storage projects in other Asia-Pacific markets, with a near-term focus on Japan and Taiwan.
Akaysha also has plans to add adjacent renewable energy opportunities (including developing green hydrogen assets) to its portfolio across multiple markets.
APAC Co-Head of Climate Infrastructure, at BlackRock, Charlie Reid, said, “As renewable energy infrastructure continues to mature in Australia, investment is required in battery storage assets to ensure the resilience and reliability of the grid, especially with the continued earlier-than-expected retirement of coal-fired power stations.”
“For our clients, we see tremendous long-term growth potential in the development of advanced battery storage assets across Australia and in other Asia-Pacific markets and look forward to working with Akaysha to ensure an orderly transition to a cleaner and secure energy future.”
Managing Director of Akaysha, Nick Carter, added “The Asia Pacific region is at the dawn of its energy transition from carbon emitting fossil fuels to intermittent renewable resources and we believe a successful shift to a more sustainable energy future is dependent on the use of large-scale battery storage.”
“By tapping into BlackRock’s global capabilities and track record in climate infrastructure, we’re excited to fulfil our ambitions in accelerating the installation of utility-scale energy storage technologies that will mitigate the variability of renewable generation and deliver grid reliability and resilience to power system networks across Asia-Pacific.”
