ENGIE has acquired the remaining 30% stake in the Hazelwood BESS from Eku Energy, increasing its ownership from 70% to 100%. The transaction also includes the Hazelwood BESS 2.0 expansion, which will add a second battery at the site.

The core insight is control. ENGIE is consolidating full ownership of a brownfield, transmission-rich battery site, rather than rotating capital into new greenfield development. Full control simplifies expansion decisions, trading strategy, and capital allocation across the asset’s remaining life.

Hazelwood is a 150 MW / 150 MWh operational battery located in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, commissioned in June 2023. The site leverages infrastructure from the former Hazelwood coal-fired power station, giving access to up to 1,600 MW of dormant transmission capacity—a scarce advantage in the NEM.

With total project costs of around $107 million (AU$150 million) and an expected 20-year lifespan, execution risk is largely behind the asset. Fluence supplies, operates, and maintains the system using its Gridstack platform, while also providing trading software for merchant participation in the National Electricity Market.

For ENGIE, full ownership tightens alignment between operations, trading, and future expansion at a node where grid access is already solved. For Eku Energy, the divestment sharpens its focus on majority-owned and operated assets, recycling capital without retaining minority complexity.

This deal signals that in Australian BESS, control over proven grid positions is now more valuable than optionality across fragmented stakes.

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