Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) shares are on course to record a small gain on Thursday.
At the time of writing, the energy company's shares are up 0.3% to $8.30.
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Why are Origin shares rising?
The Origin share price could be rising today in response to the release of a big announcement from the company.
According to the release, Origin has made a final investment decision on the first stage of a large-scale battery at the Eraring Power Station and approved an investment of approximately $600 million. And with agreements executed for the supply and construction of the battery, works will commence within weeks.
Stage one involves the construction of a 460 MW battery storage system with a dispatch duration of two hours. This is anticipated to come online in the final quarter of the 2025 calendar year. Origin also has the option to increase the battery to 700 MW and four hours dispatch duration in the future.
Origin's CEO, Frank Calabria, said:
Approval of the Eraring battery is an important milestone for Origin and another significant step in our strategy to lead the energy transition and accelerate renewable energy and storage in our portfolio. We are pleased to make this significant capital investment in Origin's first major battery project to support the growth in renewable energy that's occurring across the NEM, together with the expansion of our own portfolio of renewable energy developments.
This sentiment was echoed by Origin's head of energy supply and operations, Greg Jarvis. He said:
Eraring is a strategic site with high quality connection infrastructure enabling us to deliver energy into major demand centres. Development of the Eraring battery is a key next step as we look to transform the Eraring site for the future, given our intention to exit coal-fired generation by as early as August 2025.
What impact will this have on its shares?
Normally, news like this could give Origin shares a big boost.
However, the company has signed a scheme implementation deed that will see it acquired by the consortium comprising Brookfield Asset Management and MidOcean Energy for approximately $8.912 per share.
This means that its shares are somewhat rangebound at the moment and news like this will have limited impact on them.
