Taaleri Energia Announces its First Battery Energy Storage System Investment

Taaleri Energia will invest in a 30 MW / 36 MWh battery energy storage system in Lempäälä, some 25 kms south of Tampere. The facility will be one of the largest battery energy storage systems operating in the Finnish frequency reserve market. The capacity of the system has the potential to be doubled in the future.

As the largest wind power producer in Finland, Taaleri Energia has a comprehensive understanding of renewable energy production and its relationship with the country’s electricity grid. The battery energy storage facility will support the balancing of production and consumption in the main grid by participating in Fingrid’s reserve market and help to balance Taaleri Energia’s own wind portfolio.

Taaleri Energia has partnered with Merus Power, which is the developer of the project and is responsible for the turnkey delivery of the battery energy storage system. It is expected that construction on the project will be completed by April 2024.

The investment represents Taaleri Energia’s first investment into battery energy storage systems and is initially being funded by Taaleri Energia’s EUR 44 million development financing vehicle.

The project will be acquired, as part of a development seed portfolio, by the Taaleri SolarWind III Fund shortly after the first close of the Fund, which is expected to take place in Q2 2023. The SolarWind III Fund will continue to look at battery energy storage investment opportunities across its target markets during its investment period.

Taaleri Energia recently strengthened its investment team expertise in this area with the recruitment of Ville Rimali in January 2023. Ville previously worked in the energy storage business at Wärtsilä.

“Renewable energy is the only sustainable way out from the current energy crisis and to achieve global climate targets. Storage facilities are needed in order to further increase the share of renewable energy in the electricity grid. With this project, we are creating stability and balance in the electricity network and returns for our investors,” said Ville Rimali, Investment Director, Energy Storage at Taaleri Energia.