Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) will reject a 50% ownership interest in its 500 MW Coalburn 1 Battery Energy Storage System (Bess) to alternatives Investor AXA im Alts.
The disinvestment will officially take place when the 2-hour Bess is taken into use, which must appear at the beginning of 2026. The Coalburn 1 project is located in South Lanarkshire. CIP made a financial investment decision for the Lithium-ion Bess in December 2023 and will continue to lead the project delivery through construction and commissioning. The Bess is developed by Alcemi via CIPs Fund.
Coalburn 1 is one of the three transmission-bound curricula that are currently under construction by CIP in Scotland. The other two are the 500 MW Devilla project, located in Kincardine, near FIFE, and the 500 MW Coalburn 2 project in South Lanarkshire. Both projects, developed in collaboration with Alcemi, have achieved decisions on financial investments in January of this year and construction will start in 2027.
CIP has an optimization agreement of ten years with SSE Energy Markets and a 15-year capacity market agreement for Coalburn 1. SSE Energy Markets will also optimize the other two Scottish Bess.
CIP carried out the ownership dismissal on behalf of its Copenhagen Infrastructure V Flagship Fund, which recently exceeded more than € 12 billion (£ 10.2 billion). The fund invests in various renewable technologies in Europe, North America and Asia -Pacific.
The deal marks AXA’s first access to the British energy storage sector, as a result of the indicated focus of the investor on accelerating decarbonization, electrification and digitization. The company has previously invested in the wind energy factory of Hornsea 2 Offshore.
Once it has been put into use, Coalburn 1 becomes the largest operational Bess project in Europe. Speaking with Energy Storage News earlier this year, the British commercial director of the company Malcolm Paterson said that the Scottish Bess portfolio of CIP is going a long way to support the ambition of the UK to do zero and to reduce the costs for consumers and to strengthen energy security. “
Paterson also said that the most important routes to market all three projects will be the balance mechanism and intraday trade.
The full interview with Paterson and CIPs VP from Public Affairs Rhys Jones is available with a subscription to Energy storage. New Premium.
