BlackRock Real Assets, one of the world’s major asset management firms, is reportedly planning to acquire Akyasha Energy, an Australia-based firm specializing in battery storage & renewable energy projects.
BlackRock has recently stated that it aims to commit an additional capital of $700 million (A$1 billion) to support the development of more than 1 gigawatt of battery storage assets.
Additionally, the company plans to expand Akaysha’s storage energy projects across the APAC region, including Taiwan and Japan, in the future.
Effective and large-scale storage systems are expected to become crucial in the coming years as the demand for renewable energy capacity swells. This is because natural renewable sources of energy are not constantly available.
According to the IEA (International Energy Agency), robust scaling-up of energy is the need of the hour to meet the flexibility requirements in a decarbonized electricity system. It further reported that the investment in battery storage has grown by 40% in 2020, surpassing $5.5 billion.
Apart from this, Australian Government figures show that in 2020, 76% of total electricity generation was represented by fossil fuels, of which 54% was generated from coal, 20% from gas, and 2% from oil. The renewable share accounted for 24%.
In April, Australia’s Department of Industry, Science, Energy, and Resources stated that renewables accounted for an estimated 77,716-gigawatt hours of electricity generation in 2021. This was estimated to be 29% of overall electricity generation.
Anthony Albanese, Australia’s Prime Minister, recently stated that the challenges arising due to climate change are an opportunity for the country to become a renewable energy superpower.
Furthermore, as more and more economies around the globe are looking forward to accelerating their renewable energy capacity, the battery storage system industry is slated to witness massive growth in the coming years.
Source Credit - https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/17/blackrock-to-invest-over-700-million-in-australian-battery-storage.html