Palisade acquires battery storage system in SA

Palisade Investment Partners has acquired 100% of the Summerfield Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in South Australia from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) through its Australian renewable platform, Intera Renewables.

Intera Renewables is the principal investment of Palisade's Renewable Energy Fund (PREF), which has a 50% ownership interest in the platform alongside Palisade's Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF), the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Aware Super and HESTA.

Palisade is acquiring the Summerfield BESS in the construction phase; CIP commenced construction in February 2025. The BESS has a long-term tolling agreement in place with Origin Energy and commercial operations are scheduled to commence in late 2026.

Blue Power Partners will be retained to manage the construction of the site through to commercial operations, while Palisade Integrated Management Services (PIMS) will carry out asset management activities, Palisade said.

Commenting, Palisade partner Simon Parbery said the transaction will help support Australia's broader clean energy transition goals.

"Summerfield represents Palisade's second investment in large-scale energy storage, providing both attractive risk-adjusted returns to investors, and long-term strategic value to our Australian renewables platform Intera Renewables," Parbery said.

Aware Super associate portfolio manager, infrastructure Sue Jiang said the transaction demonstrates a compelling opportunity in large-scale renewable infrastructure.

"Energy storage plays a critical role in strengthening the grid and partnering through Intera Renewables allows us to invest alongside experienced managers in high-quality projects with strong fundamentals," Jiang said.

HESTA deputy chief investment officer and head of portfolio management Jeff Brunton echoed Jiang's statement, noting that the asset can deliver "strong" risk-adjusted returns for its members.

"Battery storage is a critical piece of the energy transition, and through our investment in Intera we're proud to be helping build the infrastructure Australia needs to reach its clean energy goals," Brunton said.

Meanwhile, CIP partner and APAC lead Thomas Wibe Poulsen added: "We are delighted to have reached an agreement to sell Summerfield to Palisade."

"The Summerfield project clearly illustrates CIP's capability to deliver through each stage of a project's lifecycle, having successfully delivered all key development workstreams and with construction now substantially complete.

"CIP is actively developing other large-scale projects in South Australia and across Australia more broadly, and we look forward to progressing our diverse investment portfolio in this important market."

With the inclusion of Summerfield, Palisade's renewable energy portfolio totals approximately 2.5 gigawatt (GW) of capacity on a 100% ownership basis, including 2.2GW in Australia.