Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has acquired full ownership of the 1GWh Beehive battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Arizona, US, from EDF Renewables North America.
The 250MW/1,000MWh project is located in Peoria, Arizona. CIP will manage the BESS through the remainder of construction, and commercial operation is expected in the first half of 2026.
Beehive has a 20-year tolling agreement with utility Arizona Public Service Company (APS). The offtake deal with APS was signed in November 2024.
CIP says the project supports APS in managing a growing energy and capacity demand by receiving energy from the power grid during periods of high renewable penetration, storing it in a series of batteries, and discharging electricity back into the power grid at peak demand hours.
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Although EDF has completed and contracted many large-scale solar-plus-storage projects within its 18GW of total solar, wind, and storage capacity deployed so far, the Beehive BESS was set to be only the company’s second multi-MW standalone storage project in the US.
The first, McHenry Storage Project, launched in 2015 in Illinois, entered the PJM Interconnection ancillary services market. It marked the first pay-for-performance opportunity for batteries to assist in grid frequency regulation in the US. The project is now owned by Cordelio Power, with Kore Power, a US lithium-ion and system integrator company, replacing the BESS units.
CIP obtained Beehive via its Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V) ‘flagship’ fund, which closed in March 2025 with a potential total commitment of approximately US$27 billion.
The company acquired a similarly sized BESS from developer Strata Clean Energy, also located in Arizona, in 2024.
The Scatter Wash BESS was acquired at an undisclosed sum, also from the CI V fund.
Ryan Pfaff, Executive Vice President, Grid and Distribution-Scale Power at EDF power solutions North America, said of the Beehive acquisition:
“We value the opportunity to collaborate with CIP on the Beehive project and look forward to working with CIP to ensure the successful completion of this critical large-scale energy storage system to support Arizona’s grid during peak hours.”
