Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) will divest a 50% ownership stake in its 500MW Coalburn 1 battery energy storage system (BESS) to alternatives investor AXA IM Alts.
The divestment will officially happen when the 2-hour duration BESS is commissioned, which is due in early 2026. The Coalburn 1 project is located in South Lanarkshire. CIP took a financial investment decision for the lithium-ion BESS in December 2023 and will continue to lead project delivery through construction and commissioning. The BESS is being developed by Alcemi via CIP’s fund.
Coalburn 1 is one of three transmission-connected BESS assets currently under construction by CIP in Scotland. The other two are the 500MW Devilla project, located in Kincardine, near Fife, and the 500MW Coalburn 2 project in South Lanarkshire. Both projects, being developed in partnership with Alcemi, reached financial investment decisions in January this year and construction is due to begin in 2027.
CIP has a ten-year optimisation agreement with SSE Energy Markets and a 15-year capacity market agreement for Coalburn 1. SSE Energy Markets will optimise the other two Scottish BESS, too.
CIP carried out the ownership divestment on behalf of its Copenhagen Infrastructure V flagship fund, which recently exceeded €12 billion (£10.2 billion). The fund invests in a range of renewable technologies across Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
The deal marks AXA’s first entry into the UK energy storage sector, reflecting the investor’s stated focus on accelerating decarbonisation, electrification and digitalisation. The firm previously invested in the Hornsea 2 offshore wind power plant.
Once it is commissioned, Coalburn 1 will be the biggest operational BESS project in Europe. Speaking to Energy Storage News earlier this year, the company’s UK commercial director Malcolm Paterson said that CIP’s Scottish BESS portfolio goes “a long way to supporting the UK’s ambition to net zero and to reducing costs for consumers and shore up energy security.”
Paterson also said that the main routes to market for all three projects will be the balancing mechanism and intraday trading.
The full interview with Paterson and CIP’s VP of government affairs Rhys Jones is available with a subscription to Energy-Storage.news Premium.
