UK’s Pacific Green sells South Australian battery park for $293m

Pacific Green has inked an AUD $460 million ($293 million) agreement to sell its 250 MW/500 MWh Limestone Coast North battery energy park development to Sydney-based clean energy investor Intera Renewables.

Intera is the renewable energy platform established and majority owned by funds managed by Australian-based infrastructure investor Palisade Investment Partners.

Limestone Coast North, 10 km from Mount Gambier and 450 km south of Adelaide, in South Australia, is next to a substation. Commercial operation is set for early 2027.

Pacific Green said each unit of energy sourced from the project would displace a quarter of a unit of thermal-fired power from Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) grid between 2035 and 2060.

Pacific Green Australia Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Joel Alexander said the sale agreement is a significant milestone for the company’s Australian business and underscores a focus on assets that represent clear commercial feasibility and deliver net-zero objectives for the nation. “The backing of Palisade, a leading global infrastructure and real assets manager, will accelerate the build out of the Limestone Coast North energy park and ensure it reaches operational stage by early 2027,” he said.

As part of the transaction, Pacific Green will be retained to manage construction through commercial operation, after which asset management activities will be carried out by Palisade Integrated Management Services through its role as Intera’s asset manager.

Palisade Executive Director Simon Parbery said Limestone Coast North represents Palisade’s first investment in large-scale energy storage and provides attractive risk-adjusted returns and long term strategic benefits for the company’s Australian renewables platform.

The battery is one of two assets at the Limestone Coast Energy Park (LCEP), which also hosts Pacific Green’s 250 MW/1 GWh Limestone Coast West lithium-ion battery. The latter was backed in 2024 via a federal Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) which aims to procure clean energy sites to replace aging, coal-fired power stations on the NEM.

The LCEP is designed to store nearly 60% of South Australia’s residential solar output for up to four hours and will link to the Heywood Interconnector between the South Australian and Victorian grids.

The 1 GW/2.5 GWh Portland Energy Park, in Victoria, 360 km southwest of Melbourne, is in its final development approval stage, with construction of its four colocated battery assets expected to start in March 2026.

Pacific Green CEO Scott Poulter said Limestone Coast North is critical to South Australia’s electricity network and is the first of the company’s 10 GWh Australian pipeline. “We are also very pleased to enter into the first of a portfolio of long term tolling power purchase agreements with Zen Energy,” said the chief executive.

In November, Pacific Green announced the acquisition of land rights in Wagga Wagga, where the company will develop its first project in New South Wales.

From pv magazine Australia.