US battery manufacturer enters Australia through 1.7 GWh deal with BlackRock’s Akaysha

The partnership deal marks Powin’s official entry into Australia’s energy market, described by the company’s CEO as a “key milestone” as it expands its global footprint.

An established company, Powin has worked on a number of major projects in the US and recently inked supply deals in countries like Taiwan. Akaysha said it chose Powin as its storage system supply partner because of its vertical integration and and software, adding the two companies have been working together for some months now on the grid interconnection process in Australia.

During the acquisition of Akaysha earlier this month, world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, said it would commit over $1 billion (AUD) to support the build out of over 1 GW of battery storage assets across Australia.

Akaysha has a portfolio of nine projects, though only three of those have been publicly announced. Those include a 150 MW / 300 MWh Ulinda Park battery project in Queensland’s Western Downs region west of Brisbane, a grid forming Palmerston Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Tasmania, and a Orana battery with between 200 MW to 400 MW of capacity and 1600 MWh of storage planned for Wellington in central-west New South Wales.

In total, Akaysha says it has more than 3 GWh of energy storage capacity in its portfolio – which a billion in backing capital would no doubt help see deployed.

“It is critical to have a diverse competitive landscape in the Australian ESS market,” Akaysha’s Managing Director, Nick Carter, said. “Powin’s vertically integrated and flexible business model reduces project cost and risk by having multiple trusted cell suppliers, proprietary software, and an in-house power plant controller.”

The companies also noted the recently signed Australia – United States Net-Zero Technology Acceleration Partnership, announced in July in an effort to safeguard energy supply chains through firming trade ties between political allies.