Australian battery energy storage system (BESS) developer Akaysha Energy has refinanced its project debt into an AU$1.75 billion (US$1.22 billion) portfolio-level facility.
Akaysha said on 20 October that the facility, backed by 11 banks, refinances four BESS assets in Australia: Brendale, Orana and Ulinda Park, which are operational, and Elaine, which is under construction.
The largest is the 415MW/1,660MWh Orana BESS near Wellington in New South Wales (NSW), which reached commercial operations in June with 200MW of its output contracted to EnergyAustralia under a 12-year virtual tolling agreement.
The company said the deal also creates a financing platform for its next phase of growth, supporting a development pipeline of about 6GW/25GWh of large-scale BESS projects across the National Electricity Market (NEM), the grid serving Australia’s eastern and southern states.
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The financing comprises three facilities with tenors of five, seven and 10 years, plus revolving liquidity and contingent instrument facilities, according to Akaysha. The company did not disclose how the AU$1.75 billion is split between the facilities or the pricing.
The lender group comprises Australian banks ANZ and Commonwealth Bank of Australia, alongside BNP Paribas, Bank of China, CIBC, Deutsche Bank, DNB, ING, Mizuho, MUFG and Rabobank.
Andrew Wegman, Akaysha’s managing director and chief financial and investment officer, said the deal was “an important milestone for Akaysha” and that the facility “gives us the flexibility to accelerate our next wave of projects”.
Akaysha said the transaction follows its 850MW/1,680MWh Waratah Super Battery reaching final commercial operations. The NSW project on the former Munmorah coal power station site was officially completed in September, after a transformer failure in October 2025 cut its output to 350MW for most of its commissioning period.
International law firm White & Case advised Akaysha, with RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of Royal Bank of Canada, as financial adviser and Chatham as hedging adviser. Australian law firm Allens acted as lenders’ counsel.
Akaysha’s BESS portfolio
Orana was originally funded through a AU$650 million debt facility that closed in July 2024 with its own 11-bank syndicate. The rest of its output, beyond the EnergyAustralia contract, is exposed to the wholesale market.
In Queensland, the first 155MW/298MWh phase of the Ulinda Park BESS, in the Western Downs region, entered operation in December 2025. In May, Akaysha signed a 20-year long-term service agreement with Hitachi Energy, the power technology arm of Japan’s Hitachi, covering performance and availability at Ulinda Park.
The portfolio also includes the 205MW/410MWh Brendale BESS in Queensland, which Akaysha said is fully operational, and the 311MW/1,244MWh Elaine BESS in Victoria, where construction began in October 2025. Akaysha said Elaine remains on track for completion in the second half of 2027.
Waratah is not among the four refinanced assets. Its main contract is with Transgrid, the NSW transmission network operator, for 700MW/1,400MWh of guaranteed capacity under a System Integrity Protection Scheme (SIPS).
Earlier this month, the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) approved changes that extend Waratah’s term and share its energy trading revenue with consumers through lower service charges.
Akaysha, which is backed by asset manager BlackRock, has used several financing routes to fund its growth, including a AU$300 million corporate debt facility secured in September 2025.
In January, Energy-Storage.news reported that Akaysha was weighing funding options for its BESS expansion, including the sale of a minority stake. Akaysha declined to comment at the time, and its latest announcement did not refer to any equity raise.
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