Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has commenced construction on the Summerfield big battery, a 240 MW / 960 MWh energy storage project in South Australia (SA).
The project, backed by CIP’s Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V) fund, has secured a 10-year offtake agreement with Origin Energy and is expected to be operational by 2027.
Located near existing transmission infrastructure, the Summerfield project will store excess wind and solar power generated during the day, ensuring a reliable supply during peak demand.
Jørn Hammer, partner and Head of CIP Australia, highlighted the significance of the project as CIP’s first large-scale energy storage initiative in the country.
“We are pleased to start construction on CIP’s first large-scale energy storage project in Australia, which will be one of the largest in South Australia. CIP has a strong track record of developing, owning and operating renewable projects globally, and CIP is delighted to bring this expertise to Australia,” he said.
“This is an important milestone for Summerfield and demonstrates CIP’s industrial approach in identifying a market need and delivering a large-scale project with a robust contractual framework, that creates value for society, the local community while securing attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors,” Thomas Wibe Poulsen, partner and Head of Asia-Pacific at CIP said.
Summerfield is part of CIP’s CI V flagship fund which has a target fund size of EUR 12 billion and invests in a range of renewable technologies from wind and solar PV to energy storage across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
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