Allianz GI, Luxcara and Return have acquired BESS projects and portfolios in Germany, Finland and Spain; Low Carbon, OX2, Cero Generation and Revera have taken FIDs on projects in Poland, Finland and the UK; and NHOA Energy has received a 600MWh order in Italy. All in all, the projects total at least 3.7GWh of capacity.
TotalEnergies sells 50% stake in German portfolio to Allianz GI
Oil and gas major TotalEnergies and asset manager Allianz Global Investors (Allianz GI) have agreed a transaction that will see the latter take a 50% stake in 11 battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Germany.
The portfolio was inherited by TotalEnergies when it acquired German BESS developer Kyon Energy in 2024. The 11 projects have a total capacity of 789MW/1,628MWh and represent a roughly €500 million (US$580 million) investment, of which 70% will be debt. They will all be operational by 2028, and will mostly be supplied by system integrator Saft, which is also a TotalEnergies subsidiary.
It was first reported that TotalEnergies was seeking a buyer for the stake early last year, after which an advisor explained to us that selling down a stake was a normal part of deploying such projects for a company like TotalEnergies (Premium access).
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“In line with our business model, this transaction enables us to optimise our capital allocation in our integrated power activities and helps improve the sector’s profitability,” said Stéphane Michel, president of gas, renewables and power at TotalEnergies.
Germany is considered one of the most attractive markets for energy storage in Europe, although the big challenge right now is uncertainty around whether or not storage will pay import-export grid fees in the long-term, as we heard last week at the Energy Storage Summit 2026 in London.
The projects, all 2-hour duration, are outlined in the map below.
OX2 takes FID on first own-operate battery projects, Luxcara buys project, both in Finland
Independent power producer (IPP) OX2 has taken final investment decision (FID) on two BESS projects in Finland, totalling 235MW/470MWh. They are co-located with its Kannisto and Korkeamaa wind farms, which reached FID in December 2025.
Construction will start immediately with the storage portions set to come online in 2028.
“By integrating energy storage facilities into projects like Kannisto and Korkeamaa, we not only enhance the flexibility and stability of the regional electricity system but also reinforce OX2’s own portfolio in terms of reliability and revenue stability,” said Matthias Taft, CEO of OX2.
OX2 secured a long-term project financing package for the storage asset with lenders KfW IPEX-Bank, NatWest, Nordea and SEB, extending their existing financing for the wind projects. Meanwhile, state-owned power firm Statkraft will provide a long-term offtake agreement for both BESS.
Executives at OX2 discussed the firm’s entry into the energy storage market in late 2023 with Energy-Storage.news. It has sold BESS projects before but these are its first it will take into operation itself (part of a broader transition from developer to IPP).
In related news, asset manager Luxcara has acquired a 125MW BESS in Finland, called Tuisku. Construction is already underway for a commercial operation date in summer 2027, and the project has a long-term tolling agreement in place.
It acquired the project, located near Keminmaa in Southern Lapland, from local developer Arise. It benefits from a strategic location adjacent to Fingrid’s 400kV Keminmaa substation, providing direct access to Finland’s high voltage transmission network.
In its home market of Germany, Luxcara has invested in the large Waltrop BESS, comprising three separate 300MW projects, under construction for 2028 operation.
Return buys 318MWh BESS portfolio in Spain from Aquila
BESS owner-operator Return has acquired a ready-to-build (RTB) portfolio of projects in Spain from peer Aquila Clean Energy, totaling 80MW/318MWh. The projects are located across Catalonia and Asturias, and may be Spain’s first utility-scale BESS portfolio sale.
Acquila had initially announced the sale without revealing the buyer, before Return and its advisors put out press releases confirming its involvement. Return aims to reach 800MWh of standalone BESS assets in operation in Spain by end-2027.
Return was an early mover in the Dutch market with its platform SemperPower before rebranding it under its own name. It has the two largest operational BESS projects in the Netherlands, although those will be overtake by much larger projects in the coming year or two, and is also an investor in another platform, Lion Storage. It has also made big moves into Germany, buying 310MW/670MWh and 4GW portfolios in 2024/2025.
Low Carbon FID on 8MW Poland project
Developer and IPP Low Carbon has taken FID on an 8MW BESS in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland, its first in the country.
The project is being delivered through a joint venture between LC Energia, Low Carbon’s majority-owned Polish entity in partnership with local developer, Evercon, and energy trading house InCommodities. It will enter operation later this year, claimed by Low Carbon has one of the first transmission-connected BESS in the country.
Trina Storage is supplying the battery storage technology while Goldbeck is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) provider.
Unnamed project owner orders 600MWh BESS from NHOA for Italy MACSE projects
System integrator NHOA Energy has received a 600MWh BESS order for two projects in Italy from an unnamed buyer.
Both are projects that won in the MACSE auction in September, Italy’s relatively novel long-term BESS capacity procurement scheme, and are located in Campania and Sardinia.
Site installation activities for both projects are expected to start by September this year and commissioning is scheduled for well within the January 2028 deadline required under MACSE.
Headquartered in Italy, NHOA has positioned itself as a BESS supply partner in the country with strong local expertise and ability to deliver on projects being delivered as part of various state-led markets, lik MACSE and the capacity market (CM). IPP Neoen enlisted it for a 10MW/51MWh CM-winning project last year, at which time NHOA talked Energy-Storage.news through the specifics of the CM as well as ancillary services.
The two MACSE projects are financed by a “pool of top-tier Italian and international financial institutions”, NHOA said. See our ESN Premium reaction piece on MACSE for a graph showing all the winning projects.
Cero Generation, Enso Energy reach FID on solar-plus-storage plant in England
Cero Generation and developer Enso Energy have reached financial close on a 78MW solar-plus-storage project in Doncaster, England, UK.
The Bumble Bee Project will be co-located with a 120MW BESS, and construction is expected to begin in the coming months. EPC work at the solar-plus-storage project will be carried out by Greek developer Metlen, while Chinese manufacturers JA Solar and Sungrow will supply the solar panels and BESS containers, respectively.
Financial close has been reached with a group of lenders, including ING, NORD/LB, Rabobank and Santander UK.
Revera reaches FID on 400MWh Scotland BESS
Carlyle-backed owner-operator Revera Energy has reached financial close on its 200MW/400MWh Windyhill BESS in Scotland, enlisting energy trader Danske Commodities to optimise it and GE Vernova to supply the batteries.
Revera and the trading firm have signed a ten-year optimising agreement for the Windyhill battery energy storage system (BESS), which is located just outside Glasgow, Scotland. It is a revenue floor covering 100% project capacity.
The operator has issued a notice-to-proceed (NTP) to its technology and construction partners, with construction to commence immediately and COD expected in Q1 2028.
BESS and long-term maintenance services will be provided by GE Vernova, the energy technology and services firm spun out of electronics giant General Electric (GE) in 2024.
See the full original version of this article on Solar Power Portal.