Privately owned East Point Energy is headquartered in Charlottesville, Virginia and has a 4.1 GW pipeline of early to mid-stage battery storage projects primairly on the US East Coast. The company has also identified additional growth potential beyond the current pipeline. East Point Energy was founded in 2018 as a technology and contractor-agnostic firm focussed on the development of standalone, grid-scale energy storage projects. According to Enerdatics research, the company has raised $3.8 million dollars in equity funding since its inception, including an initial $1.5 million raised in Dec’18. Post deal completion, East Point Energy will become a subsidiary of Equinor with its team continuing to develop the business as part of Equinor’s renewables division.
The acquisition expands Equinor’s renewables portfolio in the US, which currently includes 4.4 GW of offshore wind projects under development, also on the East Coast. The company stated that the deal raises the returns of its renewables business while simultaneously lowering the portfolio risk. Additionally, Equinor sees a strong opportunity to deploy East Point’s battery storage assets in select power markets, leveraging the volatility in power markets to generate value for the offering. The venture will further be complimented by Equinor’s advanced trading capabilities through the wholly-owned energy trading house Danske Commodities.
The transaction marks Equinor’s first energy storage-focused deal in the US and second globally, the first being the acquisition of a 45% stake in UK-based Noriker Power in Dec’21. At the time of acquisition, Noriker Power owned by 254 MW of operational Li-ion storage assets, with more than 500 MW of battery storage, hybrid energy and stability service projects in development.
The above analysis is proprietary to Enerdatics’ energy analytics team, based on the current understanding of the available data. The information is subject to change and should not be taken to constitute professional advice or a recommendation.
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