Mirova backs 290MWh Nordic battery portfolio

Mirova is investing €65 million in two utility-scale battery storage projects in Finland and Sweden, establishing the first assets in a new Nordic Storage Platform being developed with Ingrid Capacity.

The portfolio will provide 145MW of power capacity and 290MWh of energy storage. It combines the 45MW/90MWh Pedersöre project in Finland, which has reached ready-to-build status, with the 100MW/200MWh Vaggeryd project in Sweden’s SE3 electricity price area, which is expected to reach the same stage during 2027.

Ingrid Capacity will develop, operate and optimise both systems, while also providing technical and commercial asset management and managing EPC delivery. Development work will continue on Vaggeryd until the project is ready for construction, while Pedersöre can now move into the procurement and build phase.

The Finnish project also has an offtake agreement in place, giving part of its future revenue structure a contracted element before construction begins. The counterparty and commercial terms have not been disclosed, so the extent to which the agreement changes the project’s exposure to wholesale, balancing and ancillary service markets is not yet public.

For Mirova, the transaction establishes a two-country platform rather than a standalone battery investment. Pedersöre is also the investment manager’s first energy transition infrastructure investment in Finland, while Vaggeryd extends an existing record of investment in Swedish energy infrastructure.

Both batteries are designed around two hours of storage, a configuration that allows each project to move a substantial amount of energy without committing to the larger battery inventories required for four-hour or longer-duration systems. Pedersöre can deliver its rated 45MW for two hours, while Vaggeryd is designed around the same ratio at a larger 100MW scale.

That duration is suited to several functions, but the commercial case will depend on how the systems are operated. Batteries can charge when electricity is relatively abundant and discharge during tighter periods, but they can also provide balancing and frequency services where market rules allow. The same asset may therefore move between different revenue sources as prices, system needs and competition change.

The Nordic markets are attracting increasing storage development as wind and solar capacity rises and power flows become more variable. Transmission constraints between generation regions and demand centres can create significant differences in local electricity values, while system operators also need fast-responding resources to manage imbalances and frequency.

Vaggeryd’s position in Sweden’s SE3 price area makes location particularly relevant. Sweden’s internal transmission structure means electricity prices can differ substantially between bidding zones, and storage cannot remove the physical bottlenecks between them. It can, however, absorb or inject electricity at a defined point on the network, creating value where local prices and balancing conditions move sufficiently to justify cycling the battery.

Finland presents a different network and market environment, although the engineering requirements remain comparable. A grid-scale battery is both a substantial demand connection and a generating resource because it moves between charging and discharging. Protection settings, reactive power capability, control systems and connection studies therefore have to accommodate power flow in both directions.

For investors, that technical flexibility comes with changing revenue risk. Fast-response ancillary services can initially provide attractive returns where relatively few batteries are qualified, but those markets can become saturated as more projects enter. Assets capable of switching between several products have more options than projects built around a single source of income, but optimisation becomes increasingly important as competition grows.

Ingrid Capacity’s role extends beyond bringing the projects to construction. Retaining operation, optimisation and asset management means the company will remain responsible for converting the physical flexibility of the batteries into market performance after commissioning. That separates long-term capital ownership from the specialist trading, control and operational functions needed to run a storage portfolio.

The arrangement also gives Mirova a platform that can potentially be expanded without rebuilding that operating model for each new asset. Technical standards, procurement processes and market interfaces still differ by country and connection point, but an established development and optimisation structure reduces some of the organisational work involved in scaling from two projects to a broader portfolio.

The immediate milestones are more prosaic. Pedersöre still has to move from ready-to-build status through equipment procurement, construction, connection and commissioning before it can earn operating revenue. Vaggeryd must first complete the development work needed to reach the same starting point in 2027.

Together, the two projects give the Nordic Storage Platform an identified 290MWh starting portfolio and establish a partnership designed to continue beyond its first assets. The investment is significant, but the more useful measure will come when committed capital is converted into connected storage capable of responding to the Nordic power system rather than remaining capacity on a development schedule.