Leading global asset management firm Brookfield Asset Management (NYSE:BAM) has entered into an agreement to acquire Aypa Power from funds managed by Blackstone Energy Transition Partners for an US$7 billion ($10 billion) enterprise value.
Aypa is the largest standalone battery storage developer in North America, with a diversified portfolio across the US and Canada.
Under the terms of the agreement, Brookfield is to acquire Aypa’s full project portfolio, including its development platform and 200-person team, providing Brookfield with a leading role in the North American battery energy storage systems (BESS) market.
The acquisition will also provide Aypa with growth opportunities with the assistance of Brookfield’s operating and development capabilities, and procurement, commercial, and capital markets expertise.
Aypa’s platform comprises around 6.6 gigawatts (GW) of operating, under-construction, and contracted battery storage capacity, with a 20GW development pipeline. The company’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.
Brookfield Chief Investment Officer Jehangir Vevaina says the company is excited to partner with Aypa to deliver on its growth pipeline.
“Battery storage is increasingly critical to the reliability and resilience of today’s energy systems, and bringing together 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.”
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals.
BESS growth and investment
The acquisition follows news of Google purchasing all the power generated from phases one and two of Cypress Creek’s Steel River Energy Centre in Arkansas, US, comprising 1.6GW of solar and 1.9GW per hour of battery storage, with the potential of a third phase raising storage to 2.9GW/h by 2029.
Energy demand from data centres is set to see significant growth. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), battery storage has become the fastest-growing power technology, with the impacts particularly strong on the lithium market, with lithium-ion technology currently dominating the BESS market.
Strong demand from the electric vehicle and BESS sectors is set to continue, despite near-term fears of oversupply due to a recent wave of mine restarts.
Q2 Metals (TSX-V:QTWO) is currently advancing the largest spodumene lithium deposit in the western hemisphere, and the fourth largest globally, at the Cisco Lithium Project in Québec.
The company is currently focused on a summer program, targeting around 20,000m of infill drilling at the Cisco deposit, with additional targets at potential zones of ‘high-grade’ and/or near surface mineralisation. The summer program will inform an update to the mineral resource estimate (MRE) as Q2 advances the site’s inferred resources toward indicated.
Q2 has also commenced work on a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) to provide early-stage, high-level evaluation of the economic potential and financial viability of the project.
2026 has seen significant milestones so far for Q2, including an inaugural inferred MRE, a C$70 million bought deal private placement, and inclusion in the Sprott Lithium Miners ETF (NASDAQ:LITP).
Solis Minerals (ASX:SLM) has exposure to both lithium and copper through its projects in Brazil and Peru. The company’s Brazil Lithium Project is an acquisition from Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) and comprises a 93,000-hectare exploration package in the Araçuaí-Salinas Lithium Valley, a globally significant hard-rock lithium belt.
Solis highlights the district-scale lithium opportunity of the project that is adjacent to PLS Group’s (ASX:PLS) Colina Project.
The company has identified seven prospective areas at the project so far, with lithium grades and extent exceeding those that led to the discovery of Colina.
Solis commenced diamond drilling in mid-July 2026, launching a 10-hole, 2,000m program to test the 800m lithium-caesium-tantalum (LCT) pegmatite corridor. CEO Mitch Thomas says the program marks a transition from acquisition to drill-testing one of the most ‘compelling’ lithium targets in the company’s portfolio.
Brookfield’s acquisition underscores the accelerating global pivot toward large-scale BESS, now a pillar of grid reliability as demand from data centres surges.
For miners and junior explorers, the implications of the growth of BESS are clear: lithium remains the dominant battery chemistry for storage systems, and investment momentum is leading directly into projects capable of supplying long-life, high-grade feedstock.
Write to Amy Rotman at Mining.com.au
Images: Aypa Power
