UK-headquartered Eku Energy has entered the German energy storage market by acquiring a 1.6GWh BESS under development in Lower Saxony.

Eku said on June 30 the Dion BESS will provide black-start capability through a direct connection to the transmission grid, boosting energy security in the region by supporting faster and more reliable grid recovery during outages.

Dion’s commissioning is planned for the end of 2029. The project’s developer, NION, will remain responsible for further project development up to the ready-to-build stage, while Eku will have strategic leadership across development, design and technology.

Eku will also work with Fluence, a long-standing LiFePO4 supply partner, through the project’s development.

Eku said it plans to build a long-term project pipeline in Germany with the opening of an office in the country next year.

Eku is jointly owned by the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, one of Canada’s largest institutional investors, and a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management, one of the world’s largest asset managers with A$722 billion ($500 billion) in assets under management.

The company already has more than 25GWh of projects in delivery across Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the UK and Italy.

Eku’s CFO Erin Lee said: “In our multi-use projects, we combine long-term offtake agreements with the participation of our battery assets in power exchange markets. This expertise in contracts and storage technology delivers greater revenue resilience and visibility for our projects.”