Equinor has acquired US battery energy storage developer East Point Energy.
The privately-owned East Point is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has a 4.1GW current pipeline of early to mid-stage battery storage projects focused on the US east coast. Equinor signed an agreement to buy a 100% stake in the company.
Olav Kolbeinstveit, senior vice president for power and markets within renewables at Equinor, said the acquisition “represents Equinor’s entry into the US power market through flexible assets”.
“It will enable Equinor to further unlock the potential we see in the renewables space in the US, capturing value from volatility in the power markets and providing reliable services to the grid.”
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The acquisition of East Point follows Equinor’s 2021 investment in Noriker Power, a leading battery storage developer in the UK.
Since 2018, East Point has matured and divested ready-to-build battery storage projects in the US energy market. The company will become a subsidiary of Equinor with its team continuing to develop the business, as well as adding capabilities to own and operate energy storage projects in the near future, Equinor said.
The transaction between Equinor and East Point is expected to be completed later this year.
Equinor is a 50-50 partner with BP in both the Empire Wind and Beacon Wind projects offshore New York.
The Empire Wind and Beacon Wind leases, acquired in 2017 and 2019, respectively, each have a potential installed capacity of 2GW.
Siri Espedal Kindem, senior vice president for Equinor Renewables US, said the acquisition of East Point will strengthen and diversify the international energy giant’s existing renewable energy portfolio.
East Point developed the 2MWac/8MWHac Brokenburg Battery Energy Storage System in Spotsylvania, Virginia, which reached commercial operation in the second quarter of 2021.
The company sold its 20MW/80MWh Dry Bridge Energy Storage project to Dominion Energy Virginia in September 2021. The project is expected to be the largest battery energy storage project in Virginia when it becomes operational this year.
East Point is currently developing the 100MWac/400MWh Yadkins Energy Center Battery Storage Project in Chesapeake, Virginia. The project was sold to Aypa Power in March 2022 and is expected to be completed in 2025.
Originally published by John Engel on power-eng.com
