Investor Return has acquired an energy storage development platform in Germany, Swedish optimiser Flower has bought another large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) project, and Romania’s CIS Group has revealed a flurry of solar and storage projects.
Investor Return buys into 4GW Germany pipeline
Netherlands-based investment firm Return has acquired a majority stake in J&P Battery Projects, a Hamburg-based energy storage developer with a claimed 4GW pipeline of projects. Return invested €50 million (US$56 million) in the transaction.
Return is the parent company of Netherlands BESS owner-operator SemperPower, which owns and operates the two largest projects in the country and recently launched another large-scale one in partnership with Corre Energy. Return is also an investor in another Dutch developer Lion Storage.
Return’s investment in J&P coincides with SemperPower also expanding into Germany. It opened a German office and is pursuing projects with more than 3GW in “advanced stages of development” in the country. The firm didn’t clarify the interplay or relationship between J&P and SemperPower’s respective pipelines.
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Germany promises to be one of the largest BESS markets in Europe and has seen a pick-up in development and construction activity in the last few years. In the last two months TotalEnergies and Aquila Clean Energy made final investment decision (FID) and launched construction on 200MWh and 100MWh projects, respectively.
Optimiser Flower buys another large-scale Swedish project
BESS optimisation firm Optimiser has acquired a 40MW/80MWh ready-to-build project from developer Arise in Sweden.
The project, Pajkölen, is in the north of the country and grows Flower’s portfolio of assets, mainly BESS but also EV chargers and other smart energy assets, to 270MW.
It is Flower’s second large-scale project to has acquired after buying a 42.5MW system from developer OX2 in April. The firm also contracts to trade BESS that it does not own, the typical way an optimiser would operate.
Flower’s decision to go a different way and buy its own projects was explained to Energy-Storage.news by CEO John Diklev in an interview at the start of the year (Premium access).
Romania’s CIS Group to deploy solar and 55MW of storage
In Romania, solar and storage projects with 55MW of BESS capacity have been revealed by the CIS Group, a firm providing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and other energy services.
The news of the three separate projects using BESS technology was announced in an interview with local outlet Ziarul Financiar, posted on the LinkedIn page of CIS Gaz, one of the company’s subsidiaries.
The first is a 23MW PV, 4MW BESS solar and storage plant in Copşa Mică on which construction is already underway, with an investment of RON100 million (US$22.4 million). That project is being financed through Romania’s share of the EU-wide National Recovery and Resilience Plan, which is also funding a separate, larger BESS in Romania, reported on yesterday.
The CIS Group also aims to start building a 50MW BESS before the end of the year, near Târgu Mureş, that will help balance the grid.
“The installation will allow the storage of energy in periods of low demand and its release in peak moments, thus contributing to the stability and efficiency of the national electricity network,” the group said.
The company also aims to start building a third project, a 5MW PV, 1MW BESS in the city of Reghin, before the turn of the year.
