PVTIME – Backed by US investment giant BlackRock, Australian battery storage developer Akaysha Energy has assembled a portfolio financing facility worth A$1.75 billion (US$1.22 billion), one of the largest storage-related debt transactions in the country’s history. This clears the way for an ambitious expansion across the National Electricity Market (NEM).
The facility consolidates existing project-level debt from four battery energy storage systems, Brendale, Orana, Ulinda Park and Elaine, into a single portfolio structure. This provides Akaysha with greater financial flexibility as it moves forward with a development pipeline of almost 6GW/25GWh of large-scale BESS projects.
Akaysha’s current operating fleet includes the 155MW/298MWh Ulinda Park and 205MW/410MWh Brendale batteries in Queensland, as well as the 415MW/1,660MWh Orana BESS in New South Wales. The 311MW/1,244MWh Elaine project is under construction in Victoria and is on schedule to be operational in the second half of 2027.
Andrew Wegman, Akaysha’s managing director and chief financial and investment officer, said the financing package had attracted sustained interest from lenders and reflected confidence in the company’s operating assets and Australia’s broader energy transition. He added that the structure would allow Akaysha to speed up its next phase of development while continuing to invest in projects with the greatest potential.
This follows the recent commencement of full commercial operations at the 850MW/1,680MWh Waratah Super Battery in New South Wales, which, upon commissioning in late September, became the world’s largest battery storage facility.
Akaysha’s development pipeline spans multiple jurisdictions. In Victoria, the company is developing the 275MW/1,100MWh Deer Park project, the 400MW/1,600MWh Glenrowan project, and the 1,000MW/4,000MWh Connewarre project. In Queensland, the pipeline includes the 250MW/1,000MWh Oaky Creek BESS project, and in Tasmania, the 100MW/200MWh Palmerston project is underway. South Australia is home to the 150MW/600MWh Mobilong and 250MW/1,000MWh Brinkworth BESS schemes.
The financing was arranged by a consortium of 11 banks: ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, BNP Paribas, Bank of China, CIBC, Deutsche Bank, DNB, ING, Mizuho, MUFG and Rabobank.
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