Brookfield to buy Aypa Power for $7 billion in battery storage bet

Brookfield is paying $7 billion for North America's largest standalone battery storage developer, betting that grid-scale batteries will become as essential as power plants.

Brookfield agreed to acquire Aypa Power from Blackstone Energy Transition Partners for approximately $7 billion in enterprise value, or $3 billion in equity, the companies said Wednesday. The deal gives the alternative asset manager a 6.5-gigawatt portfolio of operating and contracted battery storage capacity, plus a development pipeline exceeding 20 GW, making it a leading player in the North American battery energy storage market.

"The bringing together of this leading platform with Brookfield's broad capabilities across technologies and geographies further strengthens our ability to deliver integrated energy solutions to the world's largest buyers of power," said Jehangir Vevaina, chief investment officer in Brookfield's Energy group.

Aypa's operating and under-construction portfolio is 95% contracted under long-term agreements with investment-grade customers, with an average remaining contract life of 17 years. The company has 35 projects in operation or under construction and a team of approximately 200 people. Its assets sit in transmission and capacity-constrained regions where demand for flexible power is rising as data centers, artificial intelligence workloads and electrification drive electricity consumption higher.

The transaction shows that battery storage has matured into a core infrastructure asset class, attracting the same institutional capital that historically flowed into pipelines, toll roads and renewable power projects. Brookfield is pursuing the investment through the second vintage of its flagship global transition strategy, alongside institutional partners including Brookfield Renewable Partners. The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals, with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. acting as lead financial advisor and BofA also advising Aypa and Blackstone. Kirkland & Ellis provided legal counsel to the sellers, while White & Case advised Brookfield.

Aypa was founded in 2018 and grew with Blackstone's backing into the largest storage-focused independent power producer in North America. Blackstone Energy Transition Partners has invested over $28 billion of equity globally across energy transition sectors. The sale allows Blackstone to realize returns on its bet that battery storage would become critical to grid reliability as electricity demand surged from AI and other use cases.

"This is an extraordinary achievement for the team that built Aypa," said Moe Hajabed, founder and chief executive officer of Aypa Power. "Together, we helped establish battery storage as critical infrastructure, essential to a more reliable and resilient grid."

The acquisition comes as North American power markets face a structural shift. Electricity demand growth, largely flat for two decades, is accelerating as data center capacity expands and manufacturing returns to the region. Battery storage offers utilities a faster-to-deploy alternative to gas peaker plants, with the ability to absorb excess renewable generation and discharge during peak hours. Brookfield, with over $1 trillion in assets under management, brings procurement scale, capital markets access and global supplier relationships that could accelerate Aypa's development pipeline.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.