The transaction marks NBIM’s first-ever direct investment dedicated strictly to battery storage, signaling a strategic shift as institutional investors increasingly recognize that energy storage is just as vital to the green transition as wind and solar generation.
Founded in 2017, Aypa Power has grown to become the premier standalone battery storage developer in North America. The company specializes in developing, owning, and operating utility-scale energy storage and hybrid renewable energy projects designed to facilitate grid decarbonization. Aypa’s footprint is substantial, boasting approximately 6.5 gigawatts (GW) of operating, under-construction, and contracted battery storage capacity spread across the United States and Canada. Furthermore, the company maintains an expansive development pipeline consisting of more than 20 GW of future projects, positioning it at the forefront of the region’s energy evolution.
With this latest acquisition, NBIM is co-investing alongside global asset management giant Brookfield. The partnership comes on the heels of Brookfield’s own major acquisition of Aypa Power from Blackstone, which was finalized in July 2026 under a massive valuation of $7 billion. NBIM’s participation in Aypa Power is being channeled through its existing alignment with Brookfield and the firm’s flagship global energy transition strategy, the Brookfield Global Transition Fund (BGTF II).
The timing of NBIM’s historic investment highlights a fundamental bottleneck and opportunity in modern energy markets. As the deployment of wind and solar power accelerates globally, power grids face unprecedented technical challenges. Both wind and solar are inherently intermittent power sources, meaning they generate electricity only when weather conditions permit. To achieve reliable, round-the-clock power supply, utilities and grid operators require massive amounts of energy storage to bank excess power during peak generation periods and discharge it when demand peaks or generation drops.
Furthermore, the pressure on electrical grids is intensifying from entirely new sectors. The rapid electrification of transportation—led by the surging adoption of electric vehicles—alongside the exponential power demands of data centers powering artificial intelligence (AI) computing, has turned reliable grid capacity into a critical economic and technological priority. Without robust battery storage infrastructure, vast amounts of clean energy risk being wasted during periods of over-generation, while grids remain vulnerable to stability issues.
Harald von Heyden, Global Head of Energy and Infrastructure at NBIM, emphasized the strategic significance of the milestone transaction.
"This is our first dedicated investment in battery storage," von Heyden said. "Storage is becoming an essential part of the energy system as the share of renewable generation grows, and it complements our existing wind and solar portfolio. We are pleased to expand our partnership with Brookfield."
By securing a foothold in Aypa Power, Norway’s oil fund is not only diversifying its extensive unlisted renewable infrastructure portfolio but also doubling down on the technologies required to solve the intermittency puzzle of modern power grids. As institutional capital continues to pour into the energy transition, direct investments in grid-scale battery storage are rapidly shifting from an
emerging asset class to a cornerstone of sustainable infrastructure portfolios worldwide.
