Acquisition of 5MW Battery Storage Project

RNS Number : 5554J

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund

20 August 2019

 

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20 August 2019

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC

(the "Company" or the "Fund")

Acquisition of a 5MW grid level battery storage project

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC (LSE: GRID) (the "Fund") is pleased to announce that it has completed its investment in a symmetrical 5MW battery-only project (the "Project") based in Wolverhampton for a total enterprise value of approximately £3.5 million. The Project is one of the exclusivity portfolio projects identified by the Company in its IPO prospectus published in October 2018.

The Project was connected to the distribution network and the "G59" commissioning tests were successfully witnessed and completed in April 2019. The Project generates its revenues primarily from asset optimisation (whereby it imports and exports power in order to earn income from the wholesale market and the National Grid-administered Balancing Mechanism). As such, the Fund's Manager, Gresham House Asset Management, believes that the Project is aligned to the Company's investment criteria since it enables the Fund to implement its asset optimisation business model, which existing and future sites are also expected to adopt over time.

The Project has been acquired from a vehicle owned by Gresham House DevCo Limited and Noriker Power Limited (together, the "Developers").

Current Portfolio

The acquisition increases the total capacity of operational utility-scale battery storage projects in the Fund's investment portfolio to 75MW.

Project	Location	MW	Site type
Staunch	Staffordshire	20	Battery and generators, net export
Rufford	Nottinghamshire	7	Battery and generators, symmetrical
Lockleaze	Bristol	15	Battery, symmetrical
Littlebrook	Kent	8	Battery, symmetrical
Roundponds	Wiltshire	20	Battery and generators, net export
Wolverhampton	West Midlands	5	Battery, symmetrical
Total		75

Pipeline

The Company continues to benefit from a strong pipeline of new opportunities and expects to acquire its next utility-scale battery storage asset, of 49MW capacity, by the end of the year when the Developers have completed its construction and brought it online.

Two further utility-scale battery storage assets, of 50MW capacity each, are expected to commence construction imminently; one at the end of September and the other at the end of October 2019. These assets are also being developed by the Developers.

The Fund is expected to have 229MW in operation by the end of Q1 2020.

Ben Guest, Head of Gresham House New Energy, commented:

"We are pleased to have completed our investment in Wolverhampton. Utility-scale battery storage is crucial to a renewable energy future in the UK and has significant potential from an investment standpoint."

"Our team's unique experience of developing and operating utility-scale battery storage assets, coupled with the Fund's pipeline of projects, will be able to deliver excellent shareholder value in what is a rapidly emerging next generation infrastructure sector."

"We are determined to be part of this revolution that will contribute significantly towards a low carbon economy and are focused on successfully developing our remaining pipeline of utility-scale battery storage projects over the coming months."

For further information, please contact:

Gresham House New Energy Ben Guest	[phone]
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe Richard Harris Robert Peel Alan Ray	[phone] [phone] [phone]
Montfort Communications Gay Collins Louis Supple	[e-mail] [phone] [phone]

About the Company and the Manager:

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC owns a portfolio of six utility-scale operational energy storage systems (known as ESS) located in Great Britain. The portfolio has a total capacity of 75MW. The Company is managed by Gresham House Asset Management Limited under the leadership of Ben Guest. The Company was admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange (Specialist Fund Segment) on 13 November 2018 having raised £100 million of gross proceeds from investors. Including issuance under the Placing Programme, it has now raised a total of approximately £165 million of gross proceeds from investors.

The Gresham House New Energy team has a proven track record in developing and operating energy storage and other renewable assets having developed 75MW of Energy Storage Systems and approximately 290MW of predominantly ground-mounted solar projects. Gresham House Asset Management currently manages approximately 200MW of solar and wind energy projects.

Definition of Utility-scale battery Storage Systems

Utility-scale battery storage systems are the enabling infrastructure that will support the continued growth of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, essential to the UK's stated target to reduce carbon emissions. They store excess energy generated by renewable energy sources and then release that stored energy back into the grid during peak hours when there is increased demand for it.

 

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