Palisade Investment Partners (Palisade) is pleased to announce it has reached agreement to acquire a 100% interest in the Summerfield Battery Energy Storage System (Summerfield) from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) through Intera Renewables (Intera).
The Summerfield BESS is a 240MWac / 960MWh BESS located approximately 50km east of Adelaide in South Australia (the Project). The Project was developed by CIP with construction commencing in February 2025. Palisade is acquiring the Project partway through the construction phase. The Project has a long-term tolling agreement in place with Origin Energy and commercial operations are scheduled to commence in late 2026.
Simon Parbery, Partner at Palisade, said: “We are excited to be working with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners in delivering this significant project for our investors, and Australia’s broader clean energy transition goals. Summerfield represents Palisade’s second investment in large-scale energy storage, providing both attractive risk-adjusted returns to investors, and long-term strategic value to our Australian renewables platform Intera Renewables.”
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. With the inclusion of Summerfield, Palisade’s renewable energy portfolio totals approximately 2.5GW of capacity on a 100% ownership basis, including 2.2GW in Australia, making Palisade one of Australia’s largest renewable energy investors.
Blue Power Partners 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 (PIMS) will carry out asset management activities.
Thomas Wibe Poulsen, Partner and APAC Lead at CIP said: “We are delighted to have reached an agreement to sell Summerfield to Palisade. CIP has successfully de-risked this large-scale battery project throughout development and construction, demonstrating our ability to manage risk and deliver value to our investors. The Summerfield project clearly illustrates CIP’s capability to deliver through each stage of a project’s lifecycle, having successfully delivered all key development workstreams and with construction now substantially complete. CIP is actively developing other large-scale projects in South Australia and across Australia more broadly, and we look forward to progressing our diverse investment portfolio in this important market.”
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 (PDIF), the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), Aware Super and HESTA. 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.
Sue Jiang, Associate Portfolio Manager – Infrastructure from Aware Super said: “The Summerfield BESS acquisition further demonstrates the compelling opportunity Aware Super sees in large‑scale renewable infrastructure assets that support Australia’s energy transition, while delivering long‑term, resilient returns for our 1.2 million members. Energy storage plays a critical role in strengthening the grid and partnering through Intera Renewables allows us to invest alongside experienced managers in high‑quality projects with strong fundamentals.”
Jeff Brunton, HESTA Head of Portfolio Management said: “Summerfield BESS is the type of large-scale, long-term infrastructure that supports Australia’s energy transition and can deliver strong risk-adjusted returns for our members. Battery storage is a critical piece of the energy transition, and through our investment in Intera we’re proud to be helping build the infrastructure Australia needs to reach its clean energy goals.”
Palisade was advised by Macquarie Capital, KWM, DLA Piper and Ekistica.
For further information please contact:
Simon Parbery
Partner
Ph: +61 405 199 844
simon.parbery@palisadepartners.com.au
(Transaction related inquiries)
Andrew Killesteyn
Partner
Ph: +61 404 841 741
andrew.killesteyn@palisadepartners.com.au
(Investor inquiries)