- The partners have already achieved financial close on the project and expect to finalise it late next year.
- GIG will transfer its interest in the plan to Eku Energy.
Along with Shell Energy Operations, Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group (GIG) is developing a 200 MW/400 MWh battery energy storage project in Victoria, Australia.
The partners stated on Friday that they had already reached a financial close on the project and anticipate finishing it late in the following year.
GIG and Shell Energy worked together to design the plan, while Perfection Private, based in Australia, joined as a small equity partner.
The energy storage project will be built, maintained, and serviced by Fluence Energy Inc, a joint venture between the US-based AES Corp and the German Siemens AG. With a 20-year power off-take arrangement, Shell Energy will have access to the entire battery’s capacity.
According to Greg Joiner, CEO of Shell Energy Australia, “The Rangebank project is our first grid-scale battery investment in Victoria and marks Shell’s first direct equity investment in a utility-scale BESS globally.”
GIG will transfer its interest in the plan to Eku Energy, a stand-alone battery storage company it created at the end of the previous year.
The Rangebank BESS system, which will be put in at a location inside the Rangebank Business Park in southeast Melbourne, will have enough storage to power almost 80,000 houses in Victoria for an hour during peak hours. Its operation will contribute to the stabilization of the state’s electrical network by releasing electricity during moments of high demand.