Macquarie’s Eku gets to work on two more big batteries

Macquarie-owned energy storage developer Eku Energy is set to begin construction of two new grid-scale battery energy storage systems in the UK – part of a big battery development pipeline that has ballooned to 1.2GWh in under a year.

Eku Energy was established in late 2022 by Macquarie’s Green Investment Group and is now jointly owned by a Macquarie Asset Management fund and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI).

In Australia, it has completed its first major project – the 150MW, one hour battery at Hazelwood, in Victoria; the first big battery to be completed at the site of a shuttered coal fired power station.

It has also won a landmark revenue-sharing deal with the ACT government to the Big Canberra Battery which will be sized at 250MW and 500MWh.

Eku says the two projects in Essex and Buckinghamshire will have an installed capacity of 130MWh and will provide vital flexibility to the UK grid, while also allowing more renewable generation to connect.

“We’re delighted to have partnered with NHOA Energy on these two new battery storage projects as we continue to expand our global battery storage portfolio,” said Eku CEO Sandra Grauers Nilsson in a statement this week.

“Entering the UK market with over 130MWh of projects for Eku Energy, a globally recognised energy storage developer, is an important step forward in NHOA Energy’s journey,” added Lucie Kanius-Dujardin, NHOA Energy’s executive vice president of global markets and development.

Eku already has a separate 40MW/40MWh battery under construction in Essex and recently announced a new partnership with Renera Energy to develop 1GW of battery storage in Italy, as RenewEconomy reported here.

Construction of the new UK batteries is due to commence at both sites in Q4 2023 and they are expected to be commercially operational by the end of 2024.