Actis, a London-based growth market investor in sustainable infrastructure, is acquiring two BESS projects in Poland, which together provide 244 MW of power capacity and 1,141 MWh of energy storage. The projects are being acquired from DRI, and the announcement, which was made on 6 October 2026, has come within three months of the launch of the Polish renewable energy platform of Actis.

The two projects have not reached the same stage of the transaction. The first, a 112 MW/518 MWh project at Kozienice, has already been acquired and is ready for construction. The second, a 132 MW/623 MWh project at Trzebinia, has been signed, but its acquisition will be completed only when the project has become operational. Each has a storage duration of four hours or more, and, according to Actis, they will be among the first utility-scale BESS projects to reach commercial operation in Poland.

The revenue of both assets has been secured in advance, for each of them holds a capacity market contract that runs for 17 years and is indexed to inflation. They are, moreover, intended to complement Klara Renewables, an onshore wind portfolio of 171 MW with approximately 275 MW of hybridisation potential, for which Actis had signed in July 2026. By combining generation with storage in this manner, the investor aims to form a portfolio that can mitigate volatility, while it adds to the flexibility of the Polish grid.

The reasoning behind that approach was explained by Jaroslava Korpanec, Head of Central & Eastern Europe at Actis, who described Poland as "a major European power market but a carbon-intensive one that needs to transition from coal to renewables while keeping the grid steady." The two projects, she said, "will help build the grid flexibility required." For the seller, Murat Cinar, the Chief Executive Officer of DRI, said that battery storage was expected to play an increasingly important role in Poland as the share of renewables grew, and that the company was pleased to see both projects "moving into their next stage with Actis."

The transition of which both executives spoke is a considerable one. Poland is expected to retire approximately 18 GW of coal by 2040, while it adds 50 GW of renewables and 14 GW of gas capacity, and its demand for electricity is forecast to more than double by 2050. It is against this background that Actis has set a target of 1.5 GW of wind, solar and BESS capacity for its new platform in Central & Eastern Europe, and the present transaction has brought that target nearer.

Actis has committed more than $1.1 billion across three platforms in Central and Eastern Europe, and it invests in sustainable infrastructure in growth markets.