The UK railways pension scheme Railpen and the Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo) have a bought grid-scale battery energy storage platform in the UK from investment firm Constantine.

Railpen and AIMCo have jointly acquired a 94% stake in Constantine Energy Storage (CES) with a plan to invest more than £400m (€392m) to build out a pipeline of battery energy storage projects currently under development by Pelagic Energy Developments, Constantine’s subsidiary.

IPE Real Assets understands that Railpen’s will own a 47% stake in CES and will invest £133m.

“The acquisition of CES is an ideal fit for our growing global portfolio of high-quality infrastructure assets,” said Ben Hawkins, the head of infrastructure, renewables and sustainable investing at AIMCo.

Lewis Vanstone, an investment Director at Railpen, said: “We are delighted to acquire a significant stake in CES, as part of our commitment to investing in innovative assets that grow our members’ capital over the long term.

“This acquisition marks Railpen’s first direct investment into battery storage and reflects our ambition to drive positive change through our portfolio, working with management to develop the critical infrastructure needed to support the UK’s transition to net zero.”

Graham Peck, investment director at Constantine said: “Through our subsidiary Pelagic Energy, CES has a robust project pipeline of large and well-located battery projects, which are deliverable in the near term, and thus provide a secure pipeline of best-in-class assets.”

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