Aware Super partners with National Wealth Fund to invest in UK-based battery storage platform

Australian superannuation fund Aware Super and the UK’s National Wealth Fund have joined an investor consortium led by infrastructure fund manager Equitix to invest GBP500 million (US$674 million) in Eelpower Energy’s battery storage platform.

The investment is intended to add 1GW of new battery storage capacity to the UK’s electricity network. Established in 2017, Eelpower Energy is led by a seasoned team that previously developed the UK’s first ground-mounted solar farm in 2010. The company’s focus is on building, owning, and operating large-scale grid-connected battery storage projects to deliver more than 1GW of additional capacity to support the UK grid in the coming years. Eelpower Energy will be led by a skilled management team with proven expertise in battery storage development, asset management, and optimisation within the UK market. In collaboration with the investor consortium, the company has assembled a portfolio of initial seed assets ready to move into construction, supported by a strong pipeline of high-quality, deliverable projects to drive the platform’s long-term expansion. The National Wealth Fund, acting as the UK government’s primary investor and policy bank, is contributing up to GBP200 million (US$269 million) towards the platform.

Equitix, a prominent investor, developer, and manager of infrastructure assets, led the consortium alongside Aware Super in investing in Eelpower Energy. Aware Super, one of Australia’s largest pension funds with approximately AUD200 billion (US$130 billion) in assets under management and 1.2 million members, is a long-term infrastructure investor focused on large-scale projects that deliver stable, sustainable returns aligned with its members’ retirement objectives.