Octopus Investments Australia, backed by Hostplus, Rest Super and Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), has bought Blackstone BESS, Queensland’s largest battery project.
The project, 30km from Brisbane, is being developed by Firm Power and is expected to have an enterprise value of around A$800m (€482m) and 1GW of capacity when operational.
The investment is being made on behalf of the Octopus Australia Sustainable Investment (OASIS), a fund launched last year. Last month, OASIS held a second close, securing Rest as its latest investor.
“Project Blackstone is a landmark asset for Octopus Australia,” said Sam Reynolds, managing director and CEO of the Australian business of UK firm Octopus.
He told IPE Real Assets that the project would enable the structuring of ‘firmed’ purchase power agreements (PPAs), which can given corporate customers of renewable energy more price certainty.
Sonia Teitel, co-head of investment and development at Octopus Australia, said: “Once developed the project will enable innovative offtake products to be structured. Additionally, the acquisition underlines our commitment to the growing Queensland energy market.”
Blackstone BES is the first standalone battery storage asset acquired Octopus Australia, although the company has two other facilities under exclusivity.
Octopus Australia’s portfolio spans wind, solar, storage and hybrid technologies and it has A$8.5bn of projects under development.
Its completed assets include the 333MW Darlington Point Solar Farm, Australia’s largest operational solar project located in New South Wales. Octopus also owns and operates Australia’s largest solar farm, the 180MW Dulacca wind farm which is supported by a QLD government PPA.
