Palisade Investment Partners agreed to acquire the 240 MW/960 MWh Summerfield Battery Energy Storage System in South Australia from Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners through Intera Renewables. The project, backed by a long-term tolling agreement with Origin Energy, is expected to begin operations in late 2026, strengthening Palisade’s renewable portfolio to around 2.5 GW.
PROJECT SNAPSHOT
Company: Palisade Investment Partners
Platform: Intera Renewables
Project: Summerfield BESS
Capacity: 240 MW / 960 MWh
Location: South Australia
Seller: Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners
Offtake: Origin Energy
Construction start: February 2025
Acquisition stage: During construction
Commercial operation: Late 2026Portfolio Size: ~2.5 GW total capacity
Role: Grid stability, energy shifting, flexible dispatch
Palisade Investment Partners (Palisade) announced it has signed 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 and represents Palisade’s second large-scale battery investment. The project was originally developed by CIP in 2022, from then it delivered all key development workstreams across offtake, procurement and grid connection, with construction commencing in February 2025. Palisade is acquiring the project during the construction phase, indicating a mid-stage investment approach within the project lifecycle and has a long-term tolling agreement in place with Origin Energy and commercial operations are scheduled to commence in late 2026.
As CIP is moving its focus in developing other large-scale energy projects across South Australia and the broader Australian market, it states the sale demonstrates their ability to manage risk and deliver value to investors by exiting a project once it is essentially ready for operation.
Palisade is an independent, global infrastructure and real asset manager. For Palisade, the acquisition strengthens its Intera Renewables platform, which serves as a major investor in the Australian renewable energy sector, bringing its capacity to roughly 2.5 GW. This 10-year offtake agreement with Origin Energy ensures consistent returns.
Intera Renewables is Palisade Investment Partners’s renewable energy platform and is a major investment under its Renewable Energy Fund (PREF), which holds a 50% stake along with Palisade’s Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF), Clean Energy Finance Corporation(CEFC), Aware Super and HESTA. This platform follows a multi-gigawatt investment strategy for development, construction, and operations of renewables investment lifecycle, targeting mid-teen returns through a mix of capital growth and steady income yields.
Simon Parbery, Partner at Palisade states that, Summerfield represents Palisade’s second investment in large-scale energy storage, providing attractive risk-adjusted returns to investors and a long-term strategic value to their Australian renewables platform, Intera Renewables. To achieve Australia’s broader clean energy transition goals and delivering a significant project for their investors, it is very helpful for them to work with Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners.
Sue Jiang, Associate Portfolio Manager – Infrastructure from Aware Super stated that this Summerfield BESS acquisition highlights the opportunity that it sees in large-scale renewable infrastructure. This supports Australia’s energy system while providing stable, long-term returns for its 1.2 million members. She also stated that energy storage is important for grid strength, and partnering through Intera Renewables enables investment in well-structured projects alongside experienced operators with strong basics.
Jeff Brunton stated that battery storage is an important component of energy transition and through its investment in Intera Renewables, HESTA is contributing to the development of required energy infrastructure to reach its clean energy goals.
If this project gets operational, Summerfield will play an important role in supporting South Australia’s grid stability and energy storage needs, which may contribute to the state’s target of 100% net renewable energy by 2027.