Arenko developed the battery storage project and will also continue to operate and optimise the facility following the acquisition
Bloxwich was commissioned in July last year. (Credit: Pixabay/Adam Radosavljevic)
British operational battery storage fund, Gresham House Energy Storage Fund has acquired the 41MW Bloxwich battery storage facility.
Located in on the Bloxwich Industrial estate in Walsall in the West Midlands, the facility was acquired from a group of investors led by Arenko Cleantech (Arenko).
UK-based battery software and controls platform company, Arenko has developed the battery storage project and will also continue to operate and optimise the facility following the acquisition.
The £20.1m ($25m) acquisition has expanded the total capacity of operational utility scale battery storage projects in the fund’s investment portfolio to 215MW.
Bloxwich uses Arenko’s battery software and controls platform
Commissioned in July last year, Bloxwich, which uses Arenko’s battery software and controls platform, operates in the Balancing Mechanism, European Power Exchange (EPEX) and other ancillary services markets.
The project was used to provide upward and downward reserve flexibility to National Grid in UK’s first-of-its-kind trial using an energy storage system (ESS) in May.
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund chair John Leggate CBE said: “Bloxwich is a further step forward in our ambitions to build Great Britain’s essential renewable power storage infrastructure.
“We’re pleased to welcome Arenko, as one of our partners, to support operational management and trading optimisation at Bloxwich.
“With the operational portfolio now over 200MW for the first time, we continue to make progress executing on our 2020 plan, and we look forward to updating our shareholders.”
The fund is expected to increase its operational capacity to 325MW, following the commissioning of the Wickham Market, Thurcroft and Glassenbury extension projects.
Due to minor delays from Covid-19 restriction, the Wickham Market and Thurcroft projects are now expected to be completed by the end of third quarter of the year,
The two facilities are battery-only sites, each with 50MW import/export capacity.