Partnership to increase Aust energy storage capacity
Tuesday, 06 September, 2022
Global energy storage platform provider Powin LLC has announced a partnership framework agreement with Akaysha Energy, an Australian battery storage developer, in which Powin will deploy over 1.7 GWh of energy storage systems over the next two years.
The partnership with Akaysha represents Powin’s entry into one of the largest energy markets in the world. As Australia continues to decommission fossil fuel power plants and invest further in renewable power, energy storage is critical in maintaining grid reliability while keeping energy prices low.
With more than 3 GWh of energy storage capacity in its portfolio, Akaysha was recently acquired by a fund managed by BlackRock Real Assets’ Climate Infrastructure business. BlackRock Real Assets recently announced its intent to commit more than $1 billion (US$700 million) of capital to support Akaysha’s development of battery storage assets in Australia.
“It is critical to have a diverse competitive landscape in the Australian ESS [energy storage system] market. Powin’s vertically integrated and flexible business model reduces project cost and risk by having multiple trusted cell suppliers, proprietary software and an in-house power plant controller,” said Akaysha Energy’s Managing Director, Nick Carter.
Akaysha says it partnered with Powin for the performance, reliability and safety capabilities of Powin’s Stack product line and StackOS control system. Utilising the StackOS advanced power plant controller, Powin’s engineering team and Akaysha have been working closely for several months and are well advanced in the grid interconnection process, including the Generator Performance Standard, which is mandated by Australia’s grid operator as a requirement of entering the market and interconnecting generation to the Australian grid on initial projects.
“This partnership is a key milestone as we expand our footprint globally and invest in new regions,” said Powin’s CEO, Geoff Brown.
“Powin has spent the last decade developing our product in order to bring the benefits of clean and reliable electricity to the entire world. We are thrilled to partner with Akaysha Energy on this project due to their unrivalled knowledge of the Australian energy market and their team’s extensive track record of bringing jobs and critical infrastructure to help Australia meet their net zero targets.”
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