Switzerland-headquartered power firm Alpiq will acquire a 90% stake in UK-based BESS developer-operator Harmony Energy.
The acquisition of Harmony Energy, which operates across Europe, adds its development platform and multi-gigawatt pipeline of battery energy storage system (BESS) projects to Alpiq’s flexibility offering.
This brings about 400MW of under-construction assets into Alpiq’s portfolio. According to the announcement, because of the size of the acquisition target’s pipeline, it may continue to divest projects and assets to third-party investors as it has done before.
Harmony will continue to operate as an independent company under its own brand. Peter Kavanagh, the company’s co-founder, will stay on as CEO and retain a 10% shareholding.
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Christoph Bellin, head of BESS at Alpiq, will join Harmony Energy’s management board while continuing in his role at Alpiq.vThe two parties have agreed not to disclose the financial terms of the transaction.
The developer has sold two 100MW/200MWh BESS projects to Alpiq before: one in the port of Nantes Saint-Nazaire in January this year, and one in Oise, north of Paris, in November 2024.
According to the Swiss electricity producer and energy service provider, that “created mutual trust at the business level and laid the foundation for this important step.”
To date, Harmony Energy has delivered 18 grid-scale BESS projects with a combined capacity over 700MW. In April, it secured a three-year development financing facility of an undisclosed amount from NEDF, a partnership managed by investment services firm Triple Point, to finance its 3GW German BESS pipeline.
According to Alpiq, the pipeline it has acquired also includes another UK asset due to commission as soon as Q3 this year, likely the 35MW/70MWh Skeeby BESS in Richmond, though it did not specify.
Harmony Energy is most well-known for developing for, and operating, the Harmony Energy Income Trust (HEIT), a listed fund that invested in UK BESS projects. That was ultimately sold and de-listed to asset manager Foresight Group, which Harmony CEO Peter Kavanagh discussed with us last year.
