Land Sale, Abundance Bonds & Business Update

SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited

05 December 2023

 

5 December 2023

SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited

("SAE Renewables", "SAE", the "Company" and, together with its subsidiaries, the "Group")

Freehold land sale at Uskmouth, proposed Abundance Bonds extension and Business update

Sale of land to Electric Land

SAE is delighted to announce that it has today signed an agreement with EL (Uskmouth) Limited a subsidiary of FPC Electric Land Ltd for the sale ("Sale") of the freehold land owned by SAE and currently leased by a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners who are constructing the first battery energy storage system ("BESS") at Uskmouth Sustainable Energy Park ("USEP"), as announced by the Company on 24 May 2023. SAE will receive a total cash consideration of £9.8 million from the Sale. The consideration will be received in a series of milestone payments, linked to the BESS construction progress, throughout 2024 and into 2025. SAE had previously notified its intention to monetise the lease income on the land and the Sale is the culmination of that process, allowing SAE to deliver against its objectives. The Sale also validates SAE's valuation assumptions for the BESS projects available at USEP. As the owner of significant freehold land at USEP, SAE is able to deliver both project development premiums and income from monetising the land leases on future BESS projects.

As announced on 30 August 2022, SAE entered a revenue sharing agreement with SIMEC UK Energy Holding Ltd ("SIMEC") for this first BESS. To close this agreement out, SAE has agreed to pay SIMEC £0.7 million of the received revenue from the £9.8 million for the full settlement of this agreement. 

Business Update

At the USEP, progress continues to be made on the additional 120MW BESS project, which re-uses the site of the cooling towers of the former Uskmouth power station. The planning application for this project has been submitted and a decision is expected in Q1 2024. SAE is working with another developer on a 249MW BESS project and has secured additional grid capacity of 349MW. Furthermore, the first BESS project has rights under agreements with SAE to expand from 230MW to 349MW. This brings the total potential capacity at USEP for BESS projects to over 1GW.

Additionally, SAE is developing a 200MW BESS utilising the MeyGen grid connection. The BESS project will be located close to the MeyGen tidal array's onshore substation and will operate alongside the consented 86MW tidal stream project when built.

As well as the delivery of the BESS projects, SAE is making good progress on the delivery of the world leading MeyGen tidal stream project. The three operating turbines are working well following their upgrades and SAE is on track to have the fourth deployed in Q2 2024.

The delivery of the 50MW next phase of MeyGen continues to be a priority for management. While the delivery of this project remains hugely challenging, securing the revenue for 50MW of capacity is a huge step forward. We are working with all stakeholders to continue to move forward the delivery of this project and the future phases. In this regard, we welcome the recently announced increase in the Administrative Strike Price to £261/MWh for tidal stream projects for the next auction round, which is due in 2024 and is expected to provide opportunities for further expansion of the MeyGen project.

Proposed Abundance Bonds extension

SAE is today issuing a communication (which may be viewed on the Company's website at www.saerenewables.com/investor-relations) to the holders of the debentures issued in 2017 through Atlantis Ocean Energy (the "AOE 2017 debentures"), the holders of debentures issued in 2018 through Atlantis Future Energy (the "AFE 2018 debentures") and the holders of the debentures issued in 2019 through Atlantis Future Energy (the "AFE 2019 debentures"), with the support of Abundance Investment Limited, requesting amendments to the debenture deeds.

The requested changes will allow SAE to unlock significant revenue opportunities through the delivery of multiple utility scale BESS projects, along with further development of its tidal business. SAE is confident that the income from these projects will be sufficient to repay the debenture capital, (as more fully detailed below) while still delivering on its business objectives.

The full request to the debenture holders includes:

·      extend the AOE 2017 debentures maturity date from 30 June 2024 to 30 June 2029,

·      extend the AFE 2018 debentures maturity date from 31 March 2024 to 30 June 2029,

·      extend the AFE 2019 debentures maturity date from 30 September 2024 to 30 June 2029,

·      pay an enhanced interest rate for the extension period applicable to the AFE 2019 debentures of 10% p.a.,

·      pay an enhanced interest rate for each of the three debentures from 1 January 2027 to 31 December 2027 of 11% p.a.,

·      pay an enhanced interest rate for each of the three debentures from 1 January 2028 to 31 December 2028 of 12% p.a.,

·      pay an enhanced interest rate for each of the three debentures from 1 January 2029 to 30 June 2029 of 13% p.a.,

·      make an early capital repayment allocable across all three debentures of £1,000,000 on the 31 December 2025,

·      make an early capital repayment allocable across all three debentures of £2,000,000 on the 31 December 2026, and

·      make an early capital repayment allocable across all three debentures of £3,000,000 on the 31 December 2027.

The requested amendments require the agreement of 75% of the debenture holders by value. The results of the vote are expected during December 2023.

SAE Renewables will provide a further update at that time.

This announcement contains inside information as defined in Article 7 of the EU Market Abuse Regulation No 596/2014, as it forms part of United Kingdom domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, as amended, and has been announced in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of that Regulation.

For further information, please contact:

SAE Renewables Sean Parsons, Director of External Affair	[phone]
Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated and Financial Adviser) Richard Johnson Rory Murphy David Asquith	[phone]
Zeus Capital Limited (Broker) Louisa Waddell Simon Johnson	[phone]

Notes to Editors

SAE Renewables is a global developer, owner and operator of sustainable energy projects. SAE owns the world's flagship tidal stream project, MeyGen. SAE is also the owner of the Uskmouth Power Station site that is being repurposed into a sustainable energy park, initially housing one of the UK's largest battery energy storage projects. https://www.saerenewables.com/

 

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