Octopus Energy’s generation arm announces the launch of a new joint venture (JV) with Nexta Capital Partners to charge up Italy’s battery storage market, making the most of cheap, green energy when it’s sunny and windy.
The new JV with Milan-based Nexta will develop up to 1.5 GW of commercial-scale battery storage systems across several projects largely in the south of the country.
Once operational, the projects are estimated to be capable of storing and releasing back into the grid enough electricity to power up to a million homes a day.
The partners are also exploring optimising the battery assets through Octopus’ rapidly growing flexibility platform, Kraken, which currently manages 6 GW of green energy assets.
It comes as Octopus plans to invest €1 billion in Italy by 2030 as it rapidly scales its activity to help accelerate the country’s green energy transition.
Italy is one of Europe’s fastest growing energy storage markets and recently introduced mechanisms to support this nascent sector. To meet its decarbonisation goals, it set out the need to build 9 GW of new grid-scale energy storage and upped its renewables targets with the aim of having 65% of electricity from green energy by 2030.
This latest investment was made by Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP), a fund managed by Octopus Energy Generation that backs developers creating new green power in Europe, helping to lower energy bills for consumers in future.
The deal builds on OEDP’s existing partnership with Nexta to develop wind and solar farms in Italy.
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy Generation, said: “We’re charging up our activity in Italy’s green energy market as we look to unleash more investment in the country. Italy is an incredibly interesting and fast-growing market for renewables and there’s significant untapped potential in the energy storage sector.
“Big batteries like the ones we’re developing with this new joint venture make the most of when it’s sunny and windy by storing abundant green energy and releasing it back into the grid when it’s needed. Battery storage will play a vital role in a 100% green energy system - and exciting projects like this will help us to get there quicker than ever before.”
Fabrizio Caputo, Co-founder and Managing Director of Nexta, said: “The joint venture strengthens the partnership with Octopus Energy and reaffirms the primary role of Nexta within the renewable energy industry in Italy. Battery storage represents a pillar of our asset diversification strategy and we strongly believe the pipeline we are developing will contribute to the stabilisation of a rapidly changing grid ecosystem generated by an unprecedented penetration of renewable energy sources in the market.”