BlackRock Real Assets has agreed to acquire Australian renewables and storage developer Akaysha Energy.
As part of the acquisition, BlackRock intends to commit over A$1bn (€691m) of capital to support the buildout of over 1GW of battery storage assets across Akaysha’s nine projects in the National Electricity Market (NEM) in Australia.
It is the first battery storage investment made by BlackRock’s Climate Infrastructure business (part of BlackRock Real Assets) in the Asia-Pacific region.
The investment will support the grid at a critical time in Australia’s energy transition and is expected to reduce over 15 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent emissions over the lifetime of the projects, BlackRock stated.
At full capacity, Akaysha’s projects will help “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.
Charlie Reid, APAC Co-Head of Climate Infrastructure, BlackRock, 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.”
Nick Carter, Managing Director of Akaysha, 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.”