Palisade Investment Partners (Palisade) is pleased to announce it has reached agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Limestone Coast North Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) from Pacific Green Technologies (Pacific Green).
The Limestone Coast North project is a 250MWac / 500MWh BESS development located at Limestone Coast, approximately 370km south-east of Adelaide, and 16km north of Mount Gambier in South Australia (the Project). The Project is being acquired at construction commencement with a long-term offtake agreement in place and is scheduled to commence commercial operations in 2027.
Simon Parbery, Executive Director at Palisade, stated: “We are excited to be working with Pacific Green on this significant project for both our investors, and Australia’s broader clean energy transition goals. Limestone Coast North represents Palisade’s firstinvestment in large-scale energy storage, providing both attractive risk-adjusted returns, as well as long term strategic benefits for our Australian renewables platform.”
Palisade is an early investor in the clean energy sector and manages and operates a diverse portfolio of renewable energy assets in Australia and the US. These assets total over 2GW of installed generation capacity on a 100% ownership basis, including 1.7GW in Australia, making Palisade one of Australia’s largest renewable energy investors.
Pacific Green will be retained to manage the construction of the Project through to commercial operations, following which Palisade’s operational management services arm, Palisade Integrated Management Services, will carry out asset management activities.
Scott Poulter, Pacific Green’s CEO, commented: “We are delighted to have entered this agreement with Palisade, one of Australia’s leading infrastructure fund managers. Limestone Coast North is critical to South Australia’s Electricity network and is the first of Pacific Green’s 10 GWh Australian pipeline.”
Intera Renewables (Intera) is Palisade’s Australian renewable energy platform and is the principal investment of Palisade’s Renewable Energy Fund (PREF), which has a 50% ownership interest in the platform alongside Palisade’s Diversified Infrastructure Fund, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Aware Super and HESTA. Following the acquisition of Limestone Coast North, Intera will have a combined installed capacity of over 1.4GW. Intera has a multi-gigawatt investment strategy across the development, construction and operational phases of the renewables investment lifecycle, and is targeting mid-teen returns for investors through a combination of sustainable capital growth and high single-digit income yields.
Jiren Zhou, Portfolio Manager – Infrastructure from Aware Super said: “BESS make a vital contribution to unlocking value from Australia’s energy transition opportunity and we look forward to Limestone Coast North delivering significant value for our members through its large-scale and standalone energy storage system.”
Debby Blakey, CEO of HESTA, stated: “HESTA, through the Intera platform, is pleased to invest in this opportunity as we see battery storage as an important part of Australia’s energy transition. The investment aligns with our ongoing focus to deliver sustainable,long-term returns for our members.”
PREF is currently open to new commitments and provides investors with diversified exposure to assets across locations, technologies and off-takers. PREF was established in 2016 and has generated a gross total return since inception to 31 December 2024 of 12.8% per annum, including 7.4% income, and a previous 12-month return of 13.3% of which 8.0% is income.
Palisade was advised by Macquarie Capital, Kidder Williams, KWM, Clayton Utz and Ekistica.