Company expects to commission five projects with a combined capacity of 275MW in Q1 2022
Gresham House acquires seven battery energy storage systems in UK. (Credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) has signed contracts to acquire seven battery energy storage systems (BESS) in the UK with a combined capacity of 425MW from Gresham House Devco for an undisclosed price.
According to the fund, five of the projects with a combined capacity of 275MW are advancing into construction with commissioning slated for the first quarter of next year.
Some of the projects included in these are the 100MW/100MWh Melksham East & West BESS in Swindon, the 50MW/50MWh Enderby BESS, and the 50MW/50MWh West Didsbury BESS in Manchester.
Construction on the remaining 150MW of battery energy storage systems will be subject to funding and other conditions. The projects that are part of these include the 100MW/100MWh Grendon BESS in Northampton and the 50MW/50MWh Penwortham Bess in Preston.
Apart from the 425MW BESS projects, Gresham House Energy Storage Fund said that it has expanded its exclusive pipeline by an additional six BESS projects with a combined capacity of 427MW.
The company plans to build all the projects in the subsequent pipeline by the end of the first quarter of 2023. This will be contingent on funding and other conditions.
Some of the projects included in the subsequent pipeline are the 150MW Project E2 in West Yorkshire, the 87MW Project B in the same region, and the 50MW Monet’s Garden BESS in North Yorkshire.
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund said that most of the battery energy storage systems in the subsequent pipeline will be brought into operations by the end of next year.
Gresham House New Energy lead fund manager and head Ben Guest said: “We recently set out ambitious plans to significantly increase the size of our portfolio over the next two years, given the UK’s need to increase battery storage capacity tenfold by the middle of this decade.
“Our increasing economies of scale, streamlined processes and systematic approach to deploying more battery storage capacity means we can increase our rate of deployment while reducing build costs.
“This growth will allow us to be significantly more competitive in delivering crucial flexible infrastructure for the UK’s electricity market, positioning us well for the long term.”
The company also said that it proposes to raise nearly £100m by issuing new ordinary shares in its capital at a price of 112p per share.
Proceeds of the placing are planned to cover the funding of the Grendon and Penwortham projects and 90MW projects from the subsequent pipeline.
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund chair John Leggate said: “Battery storage is a strategic imperative for the UK to unlock its world-leading carbon reduction targets. GRID has the market-leading project origination, construction and operational experience to deliver a substantial part of the country’s zero-carbon power infrastructure.
“The prospect of building lower-cost projects over the next 18 months is very exciting in terms of the value this is expected to unlock for our shareholders.”