Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP), through its fund Copenhagen Infrastructure V (CI V), has issued notice to proceed to start construction of the 240 MW / 960 MWh Summerfield battery in Australia. This follows the financial investment decision, FID, taken in September 2024.
Summerfield is strategically located in the Australian state of South Australia in an area near existing transmission infrastructure. The facility will play an important role in addressing South Australia’s rapidly growing need for energy storage capacity, enabling the decarbonisation of South Australia’s power grid while maintaining reliability. Summerfield has entered into a 10-year offtake agreement with Origin Energy – a major Australian electricity generator and retailer.
The battery will support the South Australian Government’s target of 100% net renewable energy by 2027, shifting excess wind and solar energy generated during the day to supply renewable power during peak demand periods.
'We are pleased to start construction on CIP’s first large-scale energy storage project in Australia, which will be one of the largest in South Australia. CIP has a strong track record of developing, owning and operating renewable projects globally, and CIP is delighted to bring this expertise to Australia,' said Jørn Hammer, partner and Head of CIP Australia.
Thomas Wibe Poulsen, partner and Head of Asia-Pacific at CIP, said, 'This is an important milestone for Summerfield and demonstrates CIP’s industrial approach in identifying a market need and delivering a large-scale project with a robust contractual framework, that creates value for society, the local community while securing attractive risk-adjusted returns to our investors.'
Summerfield is part of CIP’s CI V flagship fund which has a target fund size of EUR 12 billion and invests in a range of renewable technologies from wind and solar PV to energy storage across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
Source: CIP
