By Nina Chestney
LONDON (Reuters) – UK-based renewable energy investor Low Carbon said it has sold a 6 gigawatt portfolio of battery storage projects in the Netherlands to S4 Energy, which is majority-owned by global commodities merchant Castleton Commodities International (CCI).
The battery storage portfolio is one of the largest under development in the world, according to Low Carbon, and should play a role in helping balance supply and demand on the grid system as the Netherlands seeks to have 39% of renewables in its total energy mix by 2030.
The battery storage projects have been developed by LC Energy, a joint venture between Low Carbon and Dutch engineering firm QING, and have been sold to Dutch energy storage developer and operator S4 Energy, which CCI took a majority stake in last year.
Low Carbon aims to deliver 20 GW of low-carbon energy globally. It has around 16 GW of capacity currently under development.
“Some assets we will hold onto as an independent power producer – some assets we will choose to recycle capital from so we can deliver more investment in clean energy,” Low Carbon’s chief executive Roy Bedlow told Reuters.
The battery storage portfolio comprises early, mid- and advanced-stage developments, Low Carbon said. The firm would not disclose the financial details of the deal.
Last month, power firm VPI, backed by the world’s largest energy trader Vitol, said it would invest 450 million euros ($486.90 million) over the next three to five years in 10 battery storage projects in Germany with a total capacity of 500 megawatts.
The deployment of battery storage is seen as important for advancing global decarbonisation efforts and providing grid stability as demand for electricity grows along with more and more amounts of energy being generated from renewable sources.
The Netherlands is falling behind on its climate goals and needs much more investment in its power grid infrastructure to enable renewables growth.
Dutch grid operator TenneT, the largest in Europe, is looking at options for a private or partial sale, after a sale to the German government floundered, to help fund a 160 billion euro investment plan for grid infrastructure.
“Low Carbon were one of the early pioneers in the Dutch renewables market and the delivery of one of the largest utility-scale battery storage portfolios in the market to CCI will act as a critical enabler for the Dutch grid once built,” Bedlow added.
(Reporting by Nina Chestney; editing by David Evans)
