The European arm of Japanese engineering firm Nippon Koei has partnered with Aquila Capital to invest in a battery energy storage system (BESS) in Belgium.
Nippon Koei Energy Europe and Aquila Capital will jointly finance the procurement, final development and operation of the 25MW project in Ruien, the companies said in a joint statement.
Renewable energy supplier Yuso, who had instigated the project in 2018 and worked alongside Nippon Koei as co-developer has been appointed optimiser for the BESS for the next 10 years.
The project, which is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of next year, “will be the largest connected to the Belgian high-voltage grid as well as one of the first four-hour long-duration BESS units in the EU”, the companies said.
Hiroyuki Akiyoshi, representative director and VP of Nippon Koei said the joint venture with Aquila Capital highlights the value investment managers attach to the ”flexibility required to embed even more renewables to the power system of the future and the ESG compliance with the sustainability standards of such energy transition project”.
Roman Rosslenbroich, CEO and co-founder of Aquila Capital, said: “We consider batteries as a crucial asset class for the energy transition by balancing the power grid and enabling the integration of renewables.
”Our first battery investment is dating back to 2015 and storage will be a very important pillar of our activities in the coming years. We are aiming to play a key role in the build-out of this asset class in Europe and APAC.
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