Akaysha Energy and Snowy Hydro sign landmark 15-Year Virtual Tolling Agreement for the Elaine BESS
Over the 15-year term, this Virtual Tolling Agreement will strengthen Snowy Hydro’s ability to help manage wholesale market volatility while enhancing its product offering to mass-market, large-scale commercial, industrial, and wholesale customers.
For Snowy Hydro, the offtake structure delivers the benefits of physically building and operating a battery, without the capital, construction and operational burden, making it a highly capital-efficient solution. For Akaysha, the Virtual Tolling Agreement will underpin its project financing with highly bankable contracted revenues.
The Elaine BESS’ strategic location in Southwest Victoria, will help support reliable electricity supply to Victoria. It will manage transmission outage risks and support the integration of more wind and solar into the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Construction is due to commence in late September 2025, with the battery providing up to four hours of energy storage.
Dennis Barnes, CEO of Snowy Hydro said:
"Snowy’s unique portfolio of on-demand power stations and electricity storage is the key to the strength of our contribution to reliable electricity supply to homes and businesses and to the introduction of more wind and solar across the grid. This deal with Akaysha adds a new short-duration storage layer to our portfolio, which will work hand-in-hand with the long-duration storage capabilities of our pumped hydro assets."
Paul Curnow, Managing Director and Chief Commercial Officer at Akaysha Energy, said:
“This agreement represents a step change in the way large-scale storage can be delivered to the market and showcases strong market confidence in the value of BESS as a long-term energy solution. By partnering with Snowy Hydro, we’re demonstrating how flexible, long-term virtual offtake arrangements can unlock major battery projects and deliver value in the wholesale energy market.”
A unique structure for a maturing market
‘Virtual tolls’ - as these financial storage contracts are known - allow energy providers to secure the market benefits of battery capabilities, such as rapid dispatch and arbitrage, via a financial arrangement rather than physical ownership and operation. Under virtual tolling agreements, the buyer has the right to notionally charge and discharge a 'virtual battery’ as if it owned or operated the physical battery itself. The 15-year term sets a new benchmark for investment-grade battery contracts in Australia.
Market leading developments and partnerships
As the fourth Offtake Agreement for Akaysha Energy, this Virtual Tolling Agreement demonstrates Akaysha’s position as an innovative market leader and proves the case for the economic benefits of large-scale batteries to market participants, investors, and consumers.
This Virtual Tolling Agreement follows Akaysha Energy’s first virtual tolling agreement signed in August 2024 with EnergyAustralia – a 12-year, 200 MW offtake for its 415 MW Orana BESS. This agreement was underpinned by A$650 million debt financing from a syndicate of 11 domestic and global banks to fund the construction of the battery.
In February this year, Akaysha Energy announced a long-term Battery Revenue Swap Agreement with Gunvor Group, one of the world’s largest independent commodities trading houses, for Akaysha’s Brendale BESS. And earlier, in July 2023, Akaysha completed what was the first Battery Revenue Swap Agreement of its kind at the time, with Re2 Capital, for its 155MW Ulinda Park BESS in Queensland’s Western Downs.
Akaysha’s total contracted capacity across its portfolio now exceeds 1.6 gigawatts, including two assets in construction and two in final commissioning.
