Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) has acquired a 1GWh battery storage project in Arizona, US, from developer Strata Clean Energy.
The global investment firm, focused on sustainable infrastructure and clean energy assets and portfolios, announced its purchase of Strata Clean Energy’s Scatter Wash battery energy storage system (BESS) project yesterday (24 September).
CIP acquired Scatter Wash for an undisclosed sum from its Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V) ‘flagship’ fund, which has a target of €12 billion (US$13.43 billion). In June 2023 CIP made the first close on it, securing €5.6 billion capital commitments from institutional investors, and claimed it was on track to achieve its target.
The standalone BESS asset, in Phoenix, Arizona, will be a 255MW/1,020MWh system. Strata Clean Energy began construction at the project at the beginning of this year. The developer said at the time that it represented a total US$500 million investment value.
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It will feature Tesla Megapack XL2 BESS solutions, with construction group Mortenson serving as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner. With the project qualifying for post-Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) investment tax credits (ITCs) as an eligible energy storage resource, Mortenson also facilitated its compliance for the incentives.
Strata Clean Energy signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for Scatter Wash in May 2023 with utility Arizona Public Service (APS). The utility is a key customer for Strata; of the developer’s 6GW solar PV and 24GWh BESS pipeline, 1GW of solar and 6GWh of battery storage are in APS territory.
The gigawatt-hour scale project is part of a rapidly growing fleet of solar-plus-storage hybrid and standalone BESS solutions APS and fellow Arizona utilities including Salt River Project (SRP) have signed long-term off-take contracts for to date.
Strata closed US$559 million in construction and debt financing on Scatter Wash in February with lenders including JP Morgan and Nomura. The developer will stay on at the project as its construction and asset manager following the transaction with CIP. It is scheduled to go into commercial operation in H1 2025. For Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, it’s the firm’s latest investment into battery storage as part of a broad renewables strategy.
Within the BESS space, it is involved in various global markets, including backing development platform Alcemi in the UK; developing several BESS projects in Australia, starting with a 240MW/480MWh system in South Australia; and bidding into government energy storage tenders in South Africa in a consortium with EDF. In the US, recent investments include participation in a US$185 million senior credit facility for BESS developer-operator esVolta.
