SUSI Energy Storage Fund successfully closes its first transaction, investing in a 12 MW portfolio of Canadian Energy Storage assets

The SUSI Energy Storage Fund has closed its first investment, participating in the financing of a portfolio of two Energy Storage projects in Ontario, Canada.

The projects incorporate best-in-class Lithium-ion battery and flywheel technologies to provide Reactive Support and Voltage Control (RSVC) as well as Frequency Regulation Services. The portfolio will enhance security of supply and enable the replacement of nuclear and fossil-fueled generation with clean renewable power sources, leading to significant emission savings and risk reduction.

The projects, developed by the US developer Convergent Energy and Power, LP, were awarded in 2014 as part of the Independent Electricity Supply Operator’s energy storage procurement process. The fully integrated lithium-ion system, and associated medium voltage equipment is being engineered and supplied by General Electric and the flywheel system is being engineered and supplied by Temporal Power. The delivered system capacity for both systems combined will be 12 MW. 

SUSI Partners has observed the Energy Storage market for over 3 years and has built a tangible pipeline with projects totaling over 400 MWh of Energy Storage capacity, focusing on Micro-grids, Ancillary Services and Load Leveling applications across a range of proven technologies. The SUSI Energy Storage Fund is now open to institutional investors looking to profit from diversification benefits and attractive risk-adjusted returns in this rising infrastructure asset class. 

Asif Rafique, Managing Director for Energy Storage at SUSI Partners, comments:

“The investment represents an important milestone for SUSI Partners in terms of geography and sector. Energy Storage is widely recognized as being an integral part of the worldwide transition to clean energy and has become an investable asset class with attractive risk-adjusted returns available for institutional investors. SUSI Partners is well positioned to finance this exciting and growing area with its dedicated Energy Storage Fund which focuses exclusively on the sector and we look forward to completing further transactions in the future.” 

Frank Genova, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Convergent, adds:

“The financing of the Ontario IESO assets is an important step in the development of the sector and a significant milestone for Convergent which focuses on and utilizes scalable and efficient forms of capital to develop our growing pipeline of energy storage assets. Convergent has over 55 MW and 200 MWh of Energy Storage assets either operating, under construction, or under contract to be built and a solid track record of delivering on our commitments. We are looking forward to a deepened co-operation with SUSI Partners over the coming years.”