Pacific Green is a global leader in grid-scale battery development with a multi gigawatt-hour (GWh) global pipeline of battery energy storage in development over the next 48 months – reaching across Europe, Australia and North America. By developing and maximising return from renewable energy, energy storage systems and emission controls, Pacific Green is helping to address the world’s demand for cleaner and more sustainable energy.
“The area we have seen the most growth is battery energy storage, where we have built up market leading technology and expertise,” explains Joel Alexander, Managing Director of Pacific Green Australia. “We specialise in delivering grid-scale battery energy storage solutions from greenfield to operation.”
The first of these phases is the development phase. Here, Pacific Green obtains all of the necessary approvals from the relevant authorities & government departments, secures connection agreement with the grid and agrees trading protocols of the energy park through an offtake agreement.
Pacific Green has industry leading supply chain efficiencies essential for competitive costs and unrivalled lead times for any grid-scale energy storage project. “We manage the complete supply chain process, whether it is through Europe or Asia, or locally from the country we are developing the project for,” Alexander says. “From there, we manage the design and construction of the project.”
Once the development phase is complete, Pacific Green will partner with its investors to secure capital, either through debt or final investment, and from there the construction of the project can begin. But this is only the beginning of a long relationship between Pacific Green & their projects.
“We are not just a developer that prepares and sells on the asset to the investor,” Alexander points out. “Our innovative skillset, coupled with our expertise ensures we manage the delivery from start to finish to the highest performance and safety standards.“
Pacific Green is able to do this because high-voltage electrical infrastructure is a big part of the company’s DNA. The construction of a new energy park is a two-year program, and during that process Pacific Green will interface with all the relevant parties to ensure it is carried out efficiently, on time and to budget.
When the asset is energised and becomes a revenue-generating entity that can trade into the grid, Pacific Green takes on a new role to become the asset manager, monitoring that facility’s performance and ensuring routine maintenance is completed. This is what Alexander means by “cradle to grave”, they are uniquely placed to facilitate and oversee an entire lifetime of their projects.
The company is always on the lookout for more projects to acquire, seeking to connect with developers who have taken an existing project as far as they can and need somebody to come in and take over its construction or operation.
“Our mission as a company is to lead the transition to net zero emissions. I cannot overstate that enough,” Alexander says. “That is why we get out of bed in the morning. We fundamentally believe that the world should be a cleaner environment, now and for generations to come.”
For Alexander, this means solving the intermittent supply issues of renewables , bringing resilience to the market while making sure ordinary households are not paying extra for their electricity.
“Our batteries operate when there is excess electricity available during the day, when there is low demand,” Alexander tells us. “We charge the batteries up when the sun goes down and when demand on the grid increases, we start to discharge our batteries to allow grid operators to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, manage grid fluctuations and keep prices stable.”
Pacific Green requires a diverse set of skills from across the world to deliver these projects.
“We have deep engineering and technical capabilities as well as financial and construction capabilities, and we bring that to the table on behalf of the investor,” Alexander says.
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Pacific Green is a global company, with offices in UK, China, Canada, USA, Saudi Arabia, Italy and Australia. This means it can leverage its IP across continents to get the best outcome for each country. But to get the best results, Pacific Green needs to draw upon the best talent available in the industry at a time when the market for talent is highly competitive.
“There is no doubt the energy industry is booming at the moment across the world. It’s fantastic that more than 140 countries have net zero targets and project pipelines to achieve these targets,” Alexander points out. “To meet that demand we leverage our existing networks. We have been in the industry for quite some time and those connections help us to attract and retain talent. Most of our core team are from the energy and infrastructure sector, but we also need a diverse set of skillsets.”
To acquire that skillset Pacific Green looks across industries. The company draws from the commercial construction industry, where it seeks out recruits with good project management discipline. With the energy sector booming as it has, it has become an appealing prospect for talent looking to move between industries.
“We look for talent in adjacent industries and bring them over to run project management on our portfolio,” Alexander explains. “They have a high-performing attitude to a new industry that we benefit from, and they benefit from the development pathway that we can offer.”
Controlling Risk
That talent pool is essential because Pacific Green carries out very complex projects with significant financial value, meaning that due diligence and risk management are essential.
“Our projects require multi-million dollar investment to construct, so our challenge is to de-risk that project for investors. The investor base wants to see a specific set of criteria completed before committing to the project. So, we need to acquire project rights and turn that into an investment-grade rated project.”
Some projects are more complex than others, but across the board Pacific Green needs an extremely high level of focus. As Alexander points out, Pacific Green is working in a low-volume business, focusing on a small portfolio of high-value projects. As well as managing investor expectations, Pacific Green also has to manage relationships with the community that lives alongside its projects.
Pacific Green is committed to open and transparent engagement with communities in which we operate. “We partner with our communities to develop wider social value creation beyond our core business” Alexander says. “We are dedicated to creating a cleaner environment for our communities and we ensure we also give back to the community. This includes creating meaningful long term community programs that the community can be proud of.”
As Alexander regards the next 30 to 50 years for Pacific Green, the company’s future is assured. It has evolved from a low-emission technology business in the marine sector to emission control for the commercial industrial sector, and from there it has moved into battery storage.
“We will keep evolving ahead of the market,” Alexander says.
The company has recently launched the largest battery park in the UK in Kent, while currently developing one of the largest energy parks in Australia.
“Grid-scale batteries are playing a crucial role in the world’s net-zero transition by stabilising energy supply and energy costs ensuring energy generated from renewable sources can be captured and used when it is needed. We are really at the forefront of the technology,” Alexander says.
