Akaysha lands $650 million to fund 1,660 MWh Orana battery build

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Akaysha Energy, owned by United States investment giant BlackRock, announced it has closed a $650 million (USD 440 million) debt raise that will provide construction financing for the 415 MW / 1,660 MWh Orana battery energy storage system being developed in central west New South Wales (NSW).

The battery system, being built about two kilometres northeast of Wellington within the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone (REZ), will provide energy arbitrage and grid-firming capability to support the National Electricity Market and its rapid expansion of solar and wind projects.

Central to the debt financing is a 12-year ‘virtual toll’ offtake agreement with electricity generator and retailer EnergyAustralia for 200 MW of contracted capacity.

Akaysha Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer Paul Curnow said the agreement will allow EnergyAustralia to virtually access almost half the plant’s capacity within pre-agreed daily bidding parameters, separate from the physical operation of the battery by Akaysha.

“This ground-breaking and flexible offtake allows EnergyAustralia to virtually charge and discharge the 200 MW ‘virtual battery’ to manage its price and load commitments to its customers, particularly during high demand periods,” he said.

Curnow said the ‘virtual toll’ product was devised by Akaysha’s commercial and energy markets teams to allow offtakers to have the full benefits of a large-scale battery asset, while not actually having to build and operate one on their own balance sheet.

“Akaysha will do this for them,” he said.

The Orana battery energy storage system (BESS) is also supported by a long-term energy service agreement with the NSW and Commonwealth governments that will require Akaysha to deliver at least half the capacity in the event of a supply shortfall declared by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

Civil works have already commenced at the Orana site with the battery expected to commence commercial operations in 2026.

The project is being built on a 41-hectare site immediately adjacent to the existing Transgrid 330 kV zone substation and the 174 MW Wellington solar farm with Akaysha indicating it will leverage existing transmission infrastructure in the region.

The Orana battery system will feature Tesla Megapack technology while the balance of plant will be delivered by Consolidated Power Projects Australia.

The debt raise has been provided by a group of 11 domestic and foreign banks including ANZ, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac. The financing follows Akaysha’s announcement in April of a $250 million portfolio debt financing for its battery projects.

Akaysha Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Nick Carter said the Orana battery is “a real lighthouse project for the market,” showing what can be achieved not only with innovative and complex contracted offtake, but also how to finance large mega-scale systems that are requiring exponentially larger amounts of capital.

“This announcement represents a significant achievement for Akaysha and marks a crucial step in our mission to rapidly deploy mega-scale BESS, enhancing grid stability and energy security while driving Australia’s shift to sustainable energy solutions,” he said.

“Akaysha is now looking forward to the construction phase and moving rapidly towards COD.”

With Orana moving into construction, Melbourne-based Akaysha, which was acquired by Blackrock in 2022, said it has now attracted $3 billion of investment into energy storage projects in Australia and has more than 4 GWh of energy storage projects under construction.

Alongside the Orana battery, Akaysha is also developing the 850 MW / 1,680 MWh Waratah Super Battery in NSW and the Elaine big battery in Victoria that was originally designed as a 200 MW / 800 MWh facility but has since been expanded to 311 MW / 1,244 MWh.

It is also building the 155 MW / 300 MWh Ulinda Park, the 400 MW / 1,600 MWh Wurdong Heights. the 205 MW / 410 MWh Brendale, and the 500 MW / 2,000 MWh Halys batteries in Queensland.

Other projects in its development portfolio include the 100 MW / 200 MWh Palmerston battery energy storage system in Tasmania, and the 200 MW / 800 MWh Mobilong big battery in South Australia. The company has also announced plans to develop a 300 MW/1,200 MWh battery and 200 MWp solar farm near Brinkworth in South Australia’s mid-north region.

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