Ørsted has signed a 150MW power purchase agreement to supply Google with electricity from the 268MW Helena wind farm in Bee County, Texas. The project was commissioned in mid-2022.
Article search
The development business of Public Power Solutions (PPS), which includes a 250MW pipeline of large-scale UK solar PV and battery energy storage co-located projects, has been acquired by Ethical Power Development Limited.
PPS has supported over 50 public and community organisations to deliver large-scale renewable energy projects throughout the UK, most notably developing a 62MW solar scheme for the Science Museum in Wroughton and providing “comprehensive consultancy support” for the Ministry of Defence in delivering four solar farms on the defence estate, a statement said.
PPS has also developed two large-scale battery energy storage projects in Swindon, with the 50 MW Mannington battery being the largest in the UK at the time.
PPS and Ethical Power have been working together since July 2021 and have previously partnered on the development of a number of projects.
Macquarie Asset Management’s Green Investment Group (GIG) and Shell Energy Operations (Shell Energy) are to partner on the development of a 200MW / 400MWh utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) in Cranbourne, Victoria.
Once fully operational, Rangebank BESS will have the storage capacity to power the equivalent of 80,000 homes across Victoria for an hour during peak periods.
The project - to be developed by GIG and Shell Energy on two hectares of land within the Rangebank Business Park in Melbourne’s southeast - has reached financial close and is expected to be completed in late 2024.
The BESS will be built, serviced, and maintained by Fluence.
Shell Energy will have access to 100% of the battery’s offtake over a 20-year period, via an offtake agreement.
Enel X and energy storage technology company Magaldi Group have formed a partnership that will involve Enel X supplying its industrial customers with thermal energy generated by the MGTES [Magaldi Green Thermal Energy Storage] system.
The MGTES is powered by a photovoltaic plant that is able to store energy, which is then released in the form of high-temperature steam. The MGTES is installed at the Magaldi Power plant in the ASI - Area di Sviluppo Industriale [Industrial Development Area] - in the city of Salerno, Italy.
Conceived and developed by Magaldi Group, MGTES, based on a fluidized sand bed (sand batteries), makes it possible to store energy from renewable sources, which is then released in the form of steam at temperatures of 120-400C.
OX2 is to acquire Australian solar and energy storage developer ESCO Pacific for A$126 million.
ESCO Pacific’s project development portfolio consists of 1,220 MW solar and 200 MW energy storage. OX2 said the split between “late/mid/early in the portfolio” is 317 MW / 395 MW / 708 MW.
In addition, the company has a number of “pre-early projects” that are expected to be included in the project development portfolio during 2023, a statement said.
Supplementary to the agreed purchase price of A$126 million on a debt free basis, there is a contingent consideration amounting to up to A$17 million to the founder based on sales and margins in 2025-2027 from the acquired project development portfolio.
OX2 said it had identified “considerable potential for value creation in ESCO Pacific through extension of the product offering from sale of project rights to the sale of turnkey solutions at construction start”.
OX2 plans to scale up operations through acquisitions in solar and energy storage and is also exploring expansion into onshore wind, offshore wind and hydrogen.
Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners has entered the Philippines offshore wind market by signing contracts with the government for three projects totalling 2GW.
The Danish company has signed 25-year offshore wind service contracts with the Asian nation's Department of Energy for projects off the coast of Camarines Norte and Sur; Northern Samar; and Pangasinan and La Union.
CIP is investing in the nation via its Copenhagen Infrastructure New Markets Fund I.
The United Nations has warned that the world is heading into a water crisis because of “vampiric overconsumption”. How can developers in the green hydrogen industry ensure that water access does not derail their projects?
- United Nations warns the world is heading towards a water supply crisis
- Green hydrogen developers could be hit by constraints to local supplies
- Companies must start engaging with these issues before it is too late
The world is heading into a water crisis due to “vampiric overconsumption”. That was the warning issued by Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, on 22nd March at the UN’s first conference on water security in almost half a century.
“Nearly three out of four natural disasters are linked to water,” he said. “One in four people lives without safely-managed water services or clean drinking water; and over 1.7billion people lack basic sanitation.”
It was a sobering assessment that echoed the findings of two recent reports.
The Global Commission on the Economics of Water published ‘Turning The Tide: A Call to Collective Action’ on 22nd March, which said global demand for fresh water could outstrip supply by 40% by 2030, with severe shortages in water-constrained regions. Meanwhile, the ‘Global Water Security 2023 Assessment’ from the UN on 23rd March warned that three-quarters of the global population – or 6.1billion – live in ‘water-insecure’ countries. Water security is a defining issue for this century.
But what does this mean for the burgeoning green hydrogen industry? Companies need two main ingredients – electricity and water – to create green hydrogen using electrolysis, but it is the first that gets most attention. Companies that don’t consider the supply of water to their production facilities could be left high and dry.
The Commission alludes to this challenge in its report, where it calls for coordinated strategies to tackle climate change and water security. It is aiming to “ensure that the transition to low-emission energy sources reduces, rather than increases, pressure on water resources… [There] is a real risk that we both exacerbate the water crisis and undermine efforts to halt or reduce the costs of climate change”.
Secure supplies
One key point is that green hydrogen plants should not deplete water supplies overall. In very simple terms, ‘green hydrogen’ is created when electricity is run through water using an electrolyser, to split hydrogen atoms from oxygen atoms. Water is ‘lost’ at this point because it has been changed into its two elements.
However, that water is not gone forever. When green hydrogen is turned into energy through a process called oxidation, either via combustion or a fuel cell, it produces the same amount of water that was electrolysed. This enters the atmosphere as water vapour and will at some point be recovered as liquid water.
This is why ITM Power has written that “the widespread production and use of green hydrogen is expected to have a comparatively neutral effect upon Earth’s water and oxygen resources, and the increased adoption of renewable energy (as electricity and hydrogen) will serve to reduce water consumption”. Overall, it still uses far less water to produce green hydrogen than for oil and gas extraction: it takes around 10 litres of water to produce 1kg of hydrogen, the International Energy Agency has said.
But the IEA also said companies should carry out “careful assessment” when they plan to make hydrogen via electrolysis in renewables-rich but water-stressed regions “to help limit the depletion of freshwater resources”. This could include sunny and hot countries in the Middle East with enviable solar resources but vast areas of desert.
The challenge for developers is to locate their green hydrogen projects in areas with enough water and, if needed, learn whether they need to get involved in producing fresh water, such as by desalinating sea water or treating waste water. In this case, green hydrogen developers could provide an extra benefit to water-scarce regions, because excess treated water could be used for agriculture or for domestic purposes.
The threat of insufficient water supplies to projects is real: in May 2022, for example, Kallis Energy Investments scrapped plans for a 6GW green hydrogen plant in South Australia due to the risks associated with securing clean water. But there is still little public discussion about the need for secure water supplies at green hydrogen projects. This supports the UN’s case that many appear to take water for granted.
It may be possible to deliver a pilot project using mains water supplies, but that will be a less viable strategy as developments reach utility-scale.
Developer considerations
There are a few considerations that developers need to be aware of now.
The first is ensuring they think early about how they can guarantee supplies of water to projects and access water resources they need, especially in water-scarce areas. The reports highlighted earlier show that this is going to be a growing challenge and one that may have a knock-on effect on project economics if costs rise. Taking action now enables companies to anticipate water supply problems and become part of the solution.
The second is to keep a focus on water technology innovation, whether that it developing tech themselves or by testing innovations at green hydrogen pilot projects. For example, a study by the University of Adelaide in February said researchers had successfully produced green hydrogen by splitting sea water, and without the need for pre-treatment. This could be an important breakthrough given how sea water is abundant in many regions that are looking to grow their green hydrogen production.
And third, developers need to be increasingly aware of the environmental credentials of where they source water. They are already focused on making sure that electricity used in green hydrogen production is from renewable sources, but they are likely to come under greater scrutiny to ensure their water source is similarly ‘green’. In practical terms, that may mean desalination plants powered by renewables too.
The overall message for developers is they need to engage with the issues of water security now, rather than wait for a global water crisis emerge. At very least, firms must take time to understand local water conditions when they are picking sites for their projects, as this will determine if their supplies are sustainable and cheap.
Water scarcity is a defining issue for this century. Good companies will ensure they aren’t making the problem worse. The best companies will help to fix it.
Fortescue Future Industries has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Statkraft for electricity for a 300MW power-to-X plant in Norway.
Norwegian utility Statkraft has agreed to supply electricity for the Holmaneset green hydrogen and green ammonia facility that FFI is planning in Norway's Bermanger municipality. The project is still in its early feasibility stage.
GE Renewable Energy and Siemens Gamesa have settled their long-running patent disputes in Europe and the US, the companies announced today.
The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed. The companies have been locked in a long-running dispute over allegations by Siemens Gamesa that its patents had been infringed by GE in the Haliade-X offshore turbines.
Turbine maker Nordex has formed a 50:50 joint venture with parent group Acciona to develop green hydrogen projects linked to non-grid-connected onshore wind farms.
The partners said they would develop green hydrogen projects in areas with abundant wind resources and no links to conventional power grids, where green hydrogen coiuld be made at a competitive price. Acciona has paid €68m for a 50% stake in the tie-up, which has a goal of growing a portfolio to produce 500,000 tonnes of green hydrogen annually by 2033.
The venture's first projects are set to be ready-to-build by 2027 and each with at least 1GW of installed renewable power.
The European Union has finalised rules governing the role of low-carbon hydrogen in Europe's low-carbon energy transition.
On Thursday 30th March, the European Parliament, Council and Commission agreed revised policies in the EU's renewable energy directive after negotiations that lasted two years. The EU has committed to a target for industry to procure at least 42% of its hydrogen from 'renewable fuels of non-biological origin' (RFNBO) by 2030, while the transport sector needs to achieve at least 5.5% of the fuel mix from advanced biofuels and RNFBOs over the same timeframe.
Jorge Chatzimarkakis, CEO of Hydrogen Europe, said this provided "clear investment signals" for the low-carbon hydrogen sector and that the legislation "forms the foundation for a solid clean hydrogen economy in Europe". He said this would help set a "predictable market volume for renewable hydrogen".
Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL) and battery storage developer HGP Storage (HGP) have agreed a 450 MWh battery storage supply deal as part of a partnership that will aim to facilitate up to 5 GWh of utility-scale and distributed energy projects in Texas.
The 450 MWh of storage will be deployed on a project in Texas, which is scheduled to begin commercial operation in 2024. CATL will supply Texas-headquartered HGP with EnerC, its containerized liquid-cooling storage system.
Ørsted has taken a final investment decision to build the 920MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms in Taiwan.
The Danish utility won government backing for the projects in 2018 and a long-term power purchase agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in 2020. The projects are due to be commissioned by the end of 2025.
UK Infrastructure Bank is to invest up to £200 million across two investment funds to accelerate the development and deployment of energy storage technologies.
The bank will invest £75 million on a match funding basis into the Gresham House Secure Income Renewable Energy & Storage LP (SIRES) alongside a £65 million investment from Centrica.
The bank has also committed to invest £125 million on a match-funding basis into Equitix UK Electricity Storage Fund.
The deals, which represent the bank’s first investments in the energy storage sector, “could facilitate around 1300 jobs and will unlock at least a further £200 million in match-funded private sector capital”, a statement said.
Despite some scepticism, the rise of vehicle-to-grid technology as a major provider of storage capacity around the world will be inexorable
- Vehicle-to-grid will join li-ion batteries and pumped storage as major capacity provider
- Study shows V2G can actually improve car battery performance
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk has expressed scepticism, but rise of V2G is inevitable
One of the next major trends in energy storage will be vehicle-to-grid, or V2G, storage. This form of ‘storage on wheels’ is set to be almost as big a contributor to global capacity as dedicated lithium-ion batteries and pumped hydro – the dominant forms of storage currently – within the next 20 years.
Simply put, V2G charging enables energy to flow bi-directionally - from the grid into an electric car and back again. It’s a system that allows electric vehicle (EV) owners to make money by selling energy from their vehicle back to the grid.
And V2G will soon take-off. In one of the most recent developments, Nottingham City Council announced last week that it had launched a V2G demonstrator project. The council’s fleet depot is home to 40 vehicle-to-grid (V2G) bi-directional chargers with three solar arrays and two 300kW E-STOR energy storage systems from Connected Energy. The council has said the V2G project will enable it to avoid high electricity tariffs and give it the opportunity to sell electricity back to the grid.
How V2G earns money for EV owners
V2G technology can also be lucrative for private EV owners. A V2G trial programme run in the UK – by OVO Energy, Kaluza, Nissan Motor Company, research consultancy Cenex, and Indra Renewable Technology – involved V2G connected car-owners selling energy from their vehicle back to the grid at a rate of 30p per kWh. The programme concluded that “customers in the trial have been able to earn as much as £725 a year without needing to do anything except keep their cars plugged in when they are not in use”.
It's not hard to see why V2G is set to become one of the major sources of global energy storage capacity. Unlike stationary energy storage systems, which can require significant investment, plots of land, and planning permission, electric vehicle sales are continuously increasing with the result V2G can become a much bigger contributor of storage capacity with “no extra cost”, according to Finland-headquartered electric vehicle charging services company Virta.
It’s a compelling argument. It is estimated that globally there will be 140-240 million electric vehicles by 2030. “This means that we'll have at least 140 million tiny energy storages on wheels with an aggregated storage capacity of 7 TWh,” claims Virta. “We believe that electric cars are simply the smartest way to help with renewable energy management and production, as EVs will be part of our lives in the future — regardless of the ways we choose to use them.”
As one participant in the OVO Energy V2G trial commented: “Ninety per cent of the time my car is sat doing nothing. You have a huge energy storage device sitting on your drive. You’ve invested all that money in a car, so why not use it more of the time, rather than have it sitting doing nothing.”
Where major carmakers stand on V2G
While V2G implementation will take off, it will only do so once a number of barriers have been surmounted. To begin with, not all electric cars are V2G compatible, with a number of manufacturers at different stages in the development of the technology. Here’s a run-down of the current position of a number of major carmakers in relation to V2G:
Nissan
Though the Nissan Leaf has been V2G compatible since 2013, it was only in September last year that the carmaker approved its first V2G charger for the car.
Volkswagen
In September last year, it emerged that Volkswagen had signed a memorandum of understanding with Ellia Group to explore how V2G technology can potentially stabilise the energy grid, while at the same time rewarding EV drivers.
Ford
US-based Duke Energy announced in August last year that it was beginning a research and development pilot programme to evaluate the possibility of using the Ford F-150 Lightning vehicle – which has V2G capabilities – to feed the power grid.
Hyundai
In April last year, Hyundai – in partnership with mobility provider We Drive Solar – launched a project in the Dutch city of Utrecht, which will involve the deployment of 25 of its IONIQ 5 cars equipped with V2G technology. Hyundai said in a statement that Utrecht was the “first city in the world to deploy V2G technology on such a large scale”.
Porsche
In April last year, Porsche issued a statement saying that, as part of a wider pool of vehicles, electric cars could “effectively act as a power plant and help supply what is known as balancing power – electrical power that balances out fluctuations in the power grid”. The statement added that a pilot test conducted by Porsche, the grid operator TransnetBW and consulting firm Intelligent Energy System Services (IE2S), had demonstrated that “electrical balancing power can be stored in the high-voltage batteries of an intelligent swarm of electric cars”. As part of the test, a total of five series-production Taycan vehicles were connected to the power grid via the Porsche Home Energy Manager (HEM) both in a domestic environment and under laboratory conditions.
Tesla
Earlier this month, it was reported that Tesla vehicles will be V2G compatible “within the next two years”.
BMW
V2G technology is currently being “researched and tested” by BMW, but, as yet, there appears to be no indication as to when the carmaker will be able to offer a V2G-compatible car.
Mercedes-Benz
The car manufacturer’s EQS model will allow bidirectional charging in Japan. It says that the CHAdeMO (Charge de Move) charging standard in the country “supports bidirectional charging, which is the prerequisite for applications such as V2G and V2H (Vehicle-to-Home)”.
Fiat
In 2020, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles began a V2G project - in partnership with ENGIE and electricity grid operator Terna Group - at the Mirafiori plant in Italy.
Does V2G enhance or damage EV batteries?
Another potential barrier that may need to be overcome is the perception that V2G capability could ultimately shorten the life of electric vehicle batteries. Virta has highlighted the fact that “some V2G opponents” claim that using V2G technology makes car batteries less long-lasting. However, Virta disputes this, saying that V2G discharging doesn’t affect the battery life, as it “only happens for a few minutes each day”. It adds that car batteries are “being drained daily anyway – as the car is used, the battery is discharged so we can drive around”.
Indeed, there have even been claims that V2G technology could even improve a car battery’s performance. A study by the University of Warwick – which involved the development of a “comprehensive battery degradation model based on long-term ageing data collected from more than fifty long-term degradation experiments on commercial C6/LiNiCoAlO2 batteries” – concluded that the smart grid is able to extend the life of the EV battery “beyond the case in which there is no V2G”. The study showed that simulation results indicate that “if a daily drive cycle consumes between 21% and 38% state of charge, then discharging 40%–8% of the batteries state of charge to the grid can reduce capacity fade by approximately 6% and power fade by 3% over a three-month period”.
Tesla’s Musk: ‘Few will use bi-directional charging’
Despite the fact that earlier this month, as previously mentioned, it was claimed that Tesla vehicles will be V2G compatible within two years, the company’s CEO Elon Musk has said that he doesn’t think many people will use bi-directional charging, unless they have a Powerwall [a Tesla battery that stores energy, detects outages and automatically becomes a homes power source when the grid goes down] because “if you unplug your car, your house goes dark and this is extremely inconvenient.”
Musk’s scepticism about the potential for widespread utilisation of V2G technology caused surprise in the industry, though there was speculation that the comments merely reflected the fact that Tesla is, at this precise moment in time, more interested in the greater deployment of its stationary storage products, such as MegaPack and Powerwall. On the other hand, could it be that Musk’s comments are part of a cunning ploy to increase the uptake of the ‘Powerwall’ product in preparation for the wider adoption of V2G technology?
Rise of V2G will be inexorable
All the signs are that V2G will rise to prominence as one of the key contributors of energy storage capacity around the world in the coming years. DNV has said that smart meters, smart grids and “regulatory changes” in the coming years will incentivise car owners to use V2G technology. The risk management body has concluded that, from 2040 onwards, the impact of V2G systems worldwide will be “almost as large as that of dedicated li-ion batteries (or more advanced chemistries) and pumped hydro”, reaching 220 TWh/yr globally by 2050.
The rise of V2G will be inexorable. The ever-increasing number of electric cars on the road means that the failure to widely deploy such technology would represent a glaring oversight in the drive to develop a carbon-free society.
German car maker Mercedes-Benz has signed a 140MW power purchase agreement for electricity from an offshore wind farm in the German Baltic Sea.
The company has agreed a PPA for power from Iberdrola's 300MW Windanker project, which is due to be commissioned in 2026.
Iberdrola announced yesterday that Amazon was also buying power from Windanker and the nearby 476MW Baltic Eagle offshore project.
US renewable energy company Ameresco and energy storage company Redflow Limited have entered a “strategic relationship” through which Redflow will supply Ameresco, on a non-exclusive basis, with its non-lithium battery energy storage technology.
Redflow’s energy storage system will be used by Ameresco for medium to long-duration deployments and “daily cycling applications in its integrated cleantech portfolio”, a statement said.
It added that Ameresco plans to deploy Redflow’s zinc-bromine flow batteries as part of a “flexible and modular integrated solar and storage solution, which is being designed to meet the increasing need in the market for medium and long-duration systems”.
Currently, Redflow and Ameresco are working to deploy a commercial demonstration system incorporating Redflow’s 40 kWh 4-battery enclosure to one of Ameresco’s existing customer sites.
Metal-hydrogen battery company EnerVenue is to open a one-million-square-foot gigafactory in Shelby County, Kentucky in the US.
The 73-acre site will become the manufacturing plant for its energy storage systems, with all aspects of design and process validation, manufacturing and testing performed onsite. The first phase of the project will encompass 1GWh of annual production.
EnerVenue said it expects to invest in excess of $1 billion to expand to more than 20GWh per year “across its domestic manufacturing sites in subsequent phases”.
The new gigafactory, located in the heart of Kentucky’s manufacturing region, is expected to create 450 full-time jobs during the initial opening and first phase. Shelby County offered EnerVenue an incentive package comprising property and wage tax rebates totalling $20 million over a 25-year period, Enervenue said.
The state of Kentucky also offered EnerVenue more than $10.3 million in tax incentives for its first phase.
The gigafactory is expected to begin production by the end of the year.
The UK Government has awarded £37.9m funding to support 15 low-carbon hydrogen projects by companies including RWE, Scottish Power and Statkraft.
The UK is looking to support low-carbon hydrogen schemes to support its goal of reducing carbon emissions, and is set to award support to projects through its Net Zero Hydrogen Fund in two allocation rounds.
The winning projects in this first allocation round are:
- Ballymena Hydrogen by Wrightbus
- Conrad Energy Hydrogen Lowestoft by Conrad Energy
- Didcot Green Hydrogen Electrolyser by RWE
- Green Hydrogen St Helens by Progressive Energy, Statkraft and Foresight Group
- Green Hydrogen Winnington & Middlewich by Progressive Energy, Statkraft and Foresight Group
- HyNet Hydrogen Production Plant HPP2 by Vertex Hydrogen
- Inverness Green Hydrogen Hub by H2 Green
- Kintore Hydrogen by Statera Energy
- H2NorthEast by Kellas Midstream
- Knockshinnoch Green Hydrogen Hub Project by Renantis, Logan Energy and Hive Hydrogen
- Lanarkshire Green Hydrogen by Octopus Hydrogen
- Mannok Green Hydrogen Valley by Mannok
- MCRU Integrated Hydrogen Delivery for a Fuel Cell Van Fleet Pilot by British Gas
- Port of Felixstowe Green Hydrogen Project by Scottish Power and Hutchison Ports
- Trecwn Green Energy Hub by Statkraft
In addition, the government has revealed 20 projects in contention for support in its first electrolytic hydrogen funding allocation round, by companies including Carlton Power, Marubeni Europower, RES, Scottish Power and SSE.
The Canadian Government has revealed further details of its plan for a green hydrogen tax credit as part of a broader programme to support clean energy.
In its 2023 Budget this week, the government announced that 'clean hydrogen' projects would receive a tax credit equivalent to between 15% and 40% of eligible project costs, with the 'greenest' projects set to receive the most support.
It also gave further details of a Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit, to support projects including renewables production and energy storage; and a Clean Technology Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit.
US state Maryland has increased its 2031 target for installed offshore wind capacity fivefold from 1.6GW to 8.5GW.
Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced the quintupling of the target yesterday at a meeting of the International Offshore Wind Partnering Forum in Baltimore, Maryland. He said: "We are going to make this the time when offshore wind sets the pace for all of us."
The governor's office said the US state is looking to establish new lease areas, establish new grants and strengthen the offshore wind supply chain.
Brazilian developer Casa dos Ventos has placed a 1.3GW order with Vestas for turbines for two onshore wind projects in Brazil.
The Brazilian firm has picked the Danish turbine maker to supply 168 machines for the 756MW Serra do Tigre project in Rio Grande do Norte and 123 machines for the 554MW Babilônia Centro project in Bahia. Vestas has also signed a 25-year servicing agreement for the turbines.
This is the largest onshore wind order that Vestas has secured globally.
Estonian renewables firm Enefit Green has agreed to buy the up-to-1GW Liivi offshore wind project in the Gulf of Riga from utility Eesti Energia.
Enefit Green has agreed to pay €6.2m for the project, where preliminary works are underway to carry out the studies needed for environmental impact assessments.
Investment in building new European wind farms slipped to a 13-year low in 2022 with just €16.9bn invested, WindEurope has reported.
The association today published its 'Financing & Investment Trends 2022' report, in which it warned the investment climate has becoming more difficult for investors in European wind. The €16.9bn of construction finance invested last year is set to support 12.2GW of new projects, which is far below the 31GW that WindEurope said needed to be installed annually in the European Union to hit 2030 climate targets.

However, WindEurope also reported €16bn was invested in project acquisitions in Europe in 2022, with projects totalling a record 22.3GW changing hands. This was an increase of 29% year-on-year and driven by more transactions in early-stage developments.
In addition, there were no final investment decisions made for utility-scale offshore wind farms in Europe last year, with just two 30MW floating wind projects in France reaching this investment milestone.