Snowy Hydro inks 15-year virtual tolling agreement with Akaysha Energy

Setting a new benchmark for the Australian energy market, NSW hydro company Snowy Hydro has signed its first VTA. Melbourne-based developer Akaysha Energy is the offtaker for Snowy’s 311 MW/1,244 MWh Elaine BESS, in Victoria.

At 220 MW contracted capacity, the battery offtake agreement is the largest four-hour VTA in the Australian market, setting a precedent for the sector.

Over the 15-year term, the VTA – Snowy’s first – will enable the hydro company to manage wholesale market volatility and enhance product offering to mass-market, large-scale commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers, and retain the right to notionally charge and discharge a “virtual battery” as if it owned or operated the Elaine BESS.

Delivering the benefits of physically building and operating a battery, without the capital, construction, and operational burden, the VTA makes for a highly capital-efficient solution.

Snowy Hydro Chief Executive Officer Dennis Barnes said the deal with Akaysha adds a new short-duration storage layer to the Snowy Hydro portfolio.

“This will work hand-in-hand with the long-duration storage capabilities of our pumped hydro assets,” Barnes said.

“Snowy’s unique portfolio of on-demand power stations and electricity storage is the key to the strength of our contribution to reliable electricity supply to homes and businesses and to the introduction of more wind and solar across the grid.”

Snowy Hydro currently manages 5.5 GW of generating capacity, which will increase when Snowy 2.0 comes online, adding 2.2 GW of pumped hydro storage capacity by late 2028.

Akaysha Energy

For Akaysha, the VTA underpins its southwest Victorian BESS financing with highly bankable contracted revenues.

Akaysha Energy Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer Paul Curnow said partnering with Snowy Hydro shows how flexible, long-term virtual offtake arrangements can unlock major battery projects and deliver value in the wholesale energy market.

“The agreement represents a step change in the way large-scale storage can be delivered to the market and showcases strong market confidence in the value of BESS as a long-term energy solution,” Curnow said.

The agreement is Akaysha Energy’s second VTA, after it signed a 12-year, 200 MW offtake VTA in August 2024 with Melbourne-based gentailer EnergyAustralia for it’s under-construction 415 MW/1.66 GWh Orana BESS, in the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone in NSW.

The Orana BESS agreement was underpinned by AUD 650 million ($429 million) debt financing from a syndicate of 11 domestic and global banks to fund the construction of the battery.

In February 2025, Akaysha Energy announced a long-term battery revenue swap agreement (BRSA) with global commodities trading house Gunvor Group for Akaysha’s under-construction, Queensland-based 205 MW/410 MWh Brendale BESS.

In July 2023, Akaysha completed what was the first BRSA of its kind at the time, with Bermuda-based climate risk financier Re2 Capital, for its 155 MW/ 330 MWh Ulinda Park BESS in Queensland’s Western Downs, and which has recently won an Australian government Capacity Investment Scheme tender.

Akaysha’s total contracted capacity across its portfolio now exceeds 1.6 GW, including two assets in construction and two in final commissioning.

From pv magazine Australia.