Portfolio Update

RNS Number : 2927N

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC

31 May 2022

 

31 May 2022

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc

(the "Company" or "Gore Street")  

Strong Portfolio Performance and Further Construction Milestones Achieved

Gore Street, London's first energy storage fund supporting the transition to low carbon power, is pleased to provide the following positive portfolio update:

Operational Asset Performance and Trading Update

The Company's portfolio is performing strongly on every grid in which it operates - Great Britain (GB), Ireland, Germany, and the USA (Texas). During the final quarter of the Company's financial year (1 January - 31 March 2022):

· All GB assets performed very well, averaging £19/MW/hour during the quarter, with February being the strongest month. Revenue per MWh in Q1 2022 was 65 per cent. higher when compared with the same quarter last year and 22 per cent. higher than 2021 quarterly average.

· GB assets again achieved good technical availability[1] of 96 per cent. during the quarter.

· Revenue from the Company's two Northern Ireland assets exceeded forecast, particularly in February when they achieved an average price of c. £31/MW/hour, contributing c. £2m of net revenue in February alone, towards the £ 4.9m net revenue achieved in the quarter by these assets.

· The newly acquired operational asset in Germany, Cremzow[2], secured an average price of c. €17/MW/hour in the quarter, above forecast at acquisition, with March being the strongest month (c. €20/MW/hour).

· The newly acquired three operational assets[3] in ERCOT, Texas, generated net revenue within their budgeted range, averaging $18/MW/hour in the month of March, following their acquisition in early March.

The strong performance across the Company's portfolio during the first quarter of 2022 is a result of strong in-house expertise, selecting an optimal mix of contracts available to its storage sites, and favourable market conditions, consisting of: in GB, the Company's portfolio benefiting from trading opportunities and high demand of ancillary services from service operators; in Northern Ireland, wind penetration contributing to higher levels of revenue for the Company's assets.

The new financial year has started well across the Company's asset base. In GB in April, National Grid released an auction for a new service called Dynamic Moderation, in which Gore Street successfully participated. Dynamic Moderation is part of a suite of services aimed at replacing FFR in the near future. This demonstrates: (i) the flexibility of Gore Street's assets to perform under new contracts, (ii) the agility of the Investment Manager's team in participating in new auctions from inception and, finally (iii) the diversification of the portfolio's revenue streams.

Enderby (57MW/57MWh), England: EPC Contract Secured

Fluence Energy has been selected as the EPC (Engineering, Procurement, Construction) contractor for the Company's energy storage asset currently under construction in Enderby (57MW/57MWh), England. This asset is expected to become operational in Q4 2023, in line with the timeline announced at the time of its acquisition.

The contracts include the EPC agreements and long-term service agreements (O&M) for maintenance and operation, including Availability and Energy Capacity warranties, as well as stringent performance requirements to be achieved by Fluence, a global leader in energy storage and digital applications for renewables and storage.

Porterstown (30MW/30MWh[4]), Republic of Ireland: DS3 Contract Agreed

Porterstown, the Company's energy storage asset near Dublin, Ireland, was energised in May 2022 and will commence generating cash flow in July, under a DS3 capped contract.

This milestone marks the completion of an initial capacity of 30MW/30MWh (phase 1) of the total 90MW capacity available on the site, with the remaining 60 MW expected to be completed by 2024 (phase 2).

Porterstown is the first asset in Ireland to operate under the DS3 capped contract. Porterstown will deliver DS3 services for a six-year term contract beginning July 2022, under a fixed-rate, with EirGrid, Ireland's state-owned electric power transmission operator.

System duration and yield optimisation

The Company has, on average, c.1-hour system duration for the nine projects currently operational in GB.

Today, the optimal revenue mix that represents maximum payment for storage batteries is primarily comprised of grid balancing services (FFR and Dynamic Containment) - all of which are contracts that can be delivered by batteries of up to 1-hour in duration. Gore Street's strategy is centred on profit optimisation and the Company will continue to minimise capex by designing assets that are best suited to the current optimal revenue mix. Gore Street estimates the excess return on a 1-hour duration battery investment over long duration batteries is increasing given the recent rise in battery procurement costs.

In Northern Ireland, the Company has opted for sub-30-minute duration batteries, which allows the Company to deliver six ancillary services under DS3 uncapped contracts, and these delivered strong performance for the quarter, as noted above.

In the case of the Company's operations in Texas, US, the market dynamics and revenue mix are distinct from the ones in GB and Ireland. Gore Street seized an attractive acquisition opportunity of assets with 2-hour duration, which allows the Company to capture trading opportunities, as and when they become increasingly prominent in the ERCOT market, alongside current lucrative ancillary services contracts.

Texas (c. 80MW/ c. 160MWh), US: Acquisition Progress

Further to the announcement on 10 March of Gore Street's first acquisition in the US, the Company is pleased to report that the required conditions have been satisfied for the completion of four out of the eight energy storage assets in Texas. Three of the four assets now acquired (Synder, Westover and Sweetwater: c.30MW/c.60MWh) are fully operational and are of two-hour duration. The fourth asset (Mineral Wells) is under construction and is expected to become operational in Q4 2023.

The Company expects to complete the acquisition of the remaining four assets in the coming months, once the various condition precedents have been met.

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

"The Company is delighted to update shareholders on the Company's successful progress, both domestically and internationally, including a positive performance of our operational portfolio, further capacity coming on stream and significant developments for sites in construction.

"Performance during the last quarter of our fiscal year has been better than expected, with assets outperforming across all our markets.

"We are also pleased to see our GB portfolio matching the same levels of revenues with other market participants with longer durations. We continue to base our strategy on current market conditions and revenue streams and therefore continue to favour one hour battery systems for the GB market. We believe this results in substantial cost efficiencies and has significantly rewarded our shareholders.

"These assets offer important flexibility to participate in multiple attractive revenue streams, including trading.  At times of material market price dislocation, this is a highly profitable use for the Company's portfolio, which is ready to participate when ideal market conditions become available."

  ENDS

The Legal Entity Identifier of the Company is 213800GPUNVGG81G4O21.

For further information:

Gore Street Capital Limited
Alex O'Cinneide / Paula Travesso	Tel: [phone]
Shore Capital (Joint Corporate Broker)
Anita Ghanekar / Rose Ramsden / Iain Sexton (Corporate Advisory)  Fiona Conroy (Corporate Broking)	Tel: [phone]

J. P. Morgan Cazenove (Joint Corporate Broker)
William Simmonds / Jérémie Birnbaum (Corporate Finance)	Tel: [phone]

Buchanan (Media enquiries)

Charles Ryland / Henry Wilson / George Beale	Tel: [phone]
	Email: [e-mail]

JTC (UK) Limited, Company Secretary Tel: [phone]

Notes to Editors

About Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc

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. 

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[1] Technical availability is the percentage of planned production time without unexpected technical difficulties or maintenance needs.

[2] Acquisition closed on 4 March 2022 with a lock box date on 1 January 2022.

[3] Acquisition of the three operational sites closed in April 2022 with a lock box date on 1 March 2022 .

[4] Phase 1 capacity only.

 

END

 

 

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