Independent energy firm NatPower and Tesla announced Tuesday that they have struck a deal to develop 25 gigawatt hours of battery storage capacity across Italy and the United Kingdom — representing the opening phase of a project valued at up to $5 billion.
The announcement comes as European nations continue pushing forward with large-scale battery storage initiatives designed to help manage the unpredictable nature of renewable energy sources on the power grid.
As part of the multi-year partnership, NatPower will deploy Tesla’s Megapack battery storage system at its facilities. The agreement also includes the use of Tesla’s energy trading technology, which is designed to determine the most advantageous times to buy and sell electricity on the market.
Five initial projects are set to be constructed as part of the first phase. The broader program ultimately aims to surpass 100 gigawatt hours of total storage capacity, with construction costs expected to fall between $4 billion and $5 billion. The two companies also stated that combined revenues could potentially exceed $15 billion across a 20-year span.
NatPower CEO Fabrizio Zago spoke to the significance of the partnership, saying: “The sector has access to technology and capital but still struggles to deliver infrastructure consistently and within the required timelines. What we have built with Tesla is an ecosystem that enables alignment between capital and execution, and that can be replicated across multiple markets.”
