UAE’s Masdar acquires UK energy storage firm Arlington Energy: Emirati renewables company Masdar has acquired UK-based battery energy storage system (BESS) outfit Arlington Energy, the company said in a statement yesterday. No information was provided on the value of the transaction.

Tapping into Europe: The acquisition will allow the companies to develop, construct, manage, and finance BESS projects under one Masdar-Arlington platform. It will also allow Masdar to increase its offshore wind and renewables investments and scale up energy storage operations in Europe, the statement says.

What is Arlington Energy? The London-based BESS company has developed and operated over 170 MW of assets in the past two years. BESS solutions allow energy to be released from renewables during peak demand, solving the issue of energy supply during hours where the sun isn’t shining for solar panels or the wind isn’t blowing for wind turbines, for example.

Masdar is capitalizing on wind and green hydrogen projects: The company has assets in upward of 40 countries, and a combined renewables capacity of 15 GW and USD 20 bn in investments — aiming to reach 100 GW capacity by 2030, Masdar’s acting executive director for clean energy told The National earlier this month. Masdar signed an agreement with Germany’s RWE Renewables to explore wind projects last month and agreed to develop 2 GW of renewable energy projects in Tanzania in August. It also signed an agreement with Fertiglobe and France’s Engie to co-develop a green hydrogen facility in the UAE last January.

PART OF A BROAD TREND- GCC investments in western green assets are heating up. The UAE’s sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Company acquired stakes in German offshore wind developer Skyborn Renewables and US offshore project Bluepoint Wind for an undetermined amount earlier this month. GCC-focused alternative asset manager Wafra also acquired a majority stake in US utility-scale renewable asset developer Mission Clean Energy, and Kuwait-based Agility Ventures made a USD 40 mn investment in US EV charging station company Loop Global.