Fixed Revenue Contract Win and Investment in GSF

RNS Number : 7386O

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC

04 October 2019

 

THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN IS RESTRICTED AND NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, AUSTRALIA, CANADA, JAPAN OR SOUTH AFRICA OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION IN WHICH RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION WOULD BE UNLAWFUL.

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc

(the "Company" or "Gore Street")

Further Positive Progress on Irish Assets

Investment in Gore Street by Sovereign Wealth Fund

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc (ticker: GSF), London's first listed energy storage fund investing in income producing assets in the UK and internationally, is pleased to announce significant positive developments in the Company's acquisitions in the Republic of Ireland ("RI Projects") and an additional funding commitment from the Company's strategic partner, the National Treasury Management Agency ("NTMA"):

·    The RI Projects won two 6-year fixed revenue contracts in the recent Irish Government tender for storage, a significant proportion of the available capacity in this tender. The RI Projects have an estimated IRR of 10%[1];

·    NTMA, Ireland's sovereign wealth fund has committed £9.5m to be used by the Company for developing the RI Projects, cementing NTMA's relationship as one of our key strategic investors.

With the acquisition of the RI Projects, the Company will now have assets in two distinct storage markets - England and Wales and Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland, providing the Company with the most geographically diverse project portfolio in the listed storage market. The RI projects also offer longer-term fixed revenue streams, enhancing the Company's future revenue certainty. The RI projects are expected to generate revenue from September 2021.

On 4 June 2019, the Company acquired the rights to purchase controlling interests in a portfolio of four projects totalling 160MW in Northern Ireland ("NI Projects") and the Republic of Ireland ("RI Projects") from renewable energy developer, Low Carbon subject to the RI Projects' receipt of grid and revenue contracts. The 160MW includes the RI Projects, each with 30MW of capacity located in Portersdown, County Kildare and Kilmannock, County Wexford.

The Irish government is determined to support energy storage within the Delivering a Secure Sustainable Electricity System programme (the "DS3 Programme"). The purpose of the DS3 programme is to enable Ireland to meet its target of 75% non-synchronous and renewable (i.e. wind and solar) electricity across the all-island network. The DS3 market consists of both fixed and standard contracts available across the Irish grid in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

On 9 August 2019, EirGrid announced that the RI Projects' bids in the highly competitive DS3 capped market tender were successful and the projects were awarded contracts for the full 60MW of capacity. The DS3 contract is a 6-year fixed contract and thus represents one of the longest contracts available to investors in storage globally for high value frequency services.  

The RI Project vehicles have executed the DS3 contracts on 24 September 2019 and made payments of fees necessary to begin grid connection works. The estimated capex required to complete the projects is estimated to be c. £24.0m, 40% of which is to be funded by the NTMA.

Gore Street expects to continue the tender process on EPC providers started by the projects' developer, Low Carbon, with selection anticipated by Q1 2020. The assets are expected to be fully operational by September 2021.

NTMA and the RI Projects

Under the subscription agreement announced on 4 June 2019, the Company is eligible to draw down funds amounting to a maximum of £25.0m from NTMA. NTMA will subscribe for new ordinary shares in the Company for a total investment equivalent to 40% of the RI Projects' acquisition and construction costs. The Company will draw down £9.5m from NTMA.

New Ordinary Shares will be issued under the terms of the Subscription Agreement and outlined in the Prospectus (dated 16 July 2019). It is expected that admission will become effective and dealings in the new Ordinary Shares will commence on 11 October 2019. The new Ordinary Shares shall rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares in the Company. A further announcement will be made in due course.

Alex O'Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, the Company's investment adviser, commented:

"We are extremely pleased to announce that both of our submitted projects won the DS3 tender. This was a highly competitive auction process in which we secured 60MW out of 110MW awarded capacity. We believe this success is a testament to the depth of the investment adviser's expertise in this nascent market where we were able to price our bid correctly and receive the entire 60MW of capacity that we were seeking on this occasion. These projects, with 6-year contracts, provide greater revenue visibility and stability moving forward. Additionally, we are also delighted to receive a further £9.5m of capital from our strategic investment partners, NTMA, as we continue to grow the fund and diversify our assets under management to provide further sources of income for our shareholders. Since its IPO we have increased the fund portfolio from 8MW to 189MW, built out a multinational portfolio and added significant investors to our shareholder base.

We are also pleased that our portfolio covers two distinct energy storage markets in England and Wales and Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. This gives the Company considerable diversity and the benefits that flow from that diversity, including revenue sources and duration and regulatory and country risks."

 

Notes to Editors:

Gore Street is London's first listed energy storage fund and seeks to provide shareholders with a significant opportunity to invest in a diversified portfolio of utility scale energy storage projects. In addition to growth through exploiting its considerable pipeline, the Company aims to deliver consistent and robust dividend yield as income distributions to its shareholders.

Further information is available at www.gorestreetcap.com/energy-storage-fund/

For further information:

Gore Street Capital Limited	Tel: [phone]
Alex O'Cinneide
Shore Capital	Tel: [phone]
Daniel Harris, Hugo Masefield (Corporate Advisory)
Henry Willcocks, Fiona Conroy (Corporate Broking)
Media Enquiries
Buchanan	Tel: [phone]
Charles Ryland / Steph Watson / Henry Wilson	Email: [e-mail]
Company Secretary
JTC (UK) Limited	Tel: [phone]

The Legal Entity Identifier of the Company is 213800GPUNVGG81G4O21.

 

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[1] These are targeted only which are based on a number of assumptions that may not materialize. There can be no guarantee that the fund will generate these or any returns.

 

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