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Gresham House Energy Storage acquires 41MW Bloxwich facility

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Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) has announced that it has completed the acquisition of a 41MW operational energy storage facility known as Bloxwich from a group of investors led by Arenko Cleantech (Arenko). The initial cost is £20.1m, with the potential for further earnout payments. The acquisition of Bloxwhich increases the total capacity of operational utility scale battery storage projects in GRID’s investment portfolio to 215MW. Following completion of the Wickham Market and Thurcroft projects (see pipleine update below), and the 10MW Glassenbury extension due to be commissioned in Q3 2020, GRID will have 325MW of operational capacity and will be fully invested.

The Bloxwich facility 

The 41MW Bloxwich facility is located on the Bloxwich Industrial estate in Walsall in the West Midlands. It was developed by Arenko and, according to GRID, utilises their leading battery software and controls platform. Post-acquisition, Arenko will continue to operate and optimise Bloxwich, which has been acquired by GRID for an initial value of £20.1 million, with further potential earnout payments.

Bloxwich was commissioned in July 2019 and operates in the Balancing Mechanism, European Power Exchange (EPEX) and other ancillary services markets, such as frequency response. In mid-May 2020, it was used to provide upward and downward reserve flexibility to National Grid in the UK’s first-of-its-kind trial using an energy storage system (‘ESS’). According to GRID, existing upward and downward reserve services are typically provided by large Combined Cycle Gas Turbines and other thermal generation at a significant financial and carbon emissions cost to the UK grid. In essence, an ESS provides an exciting, more cost-effective source of grid flexibility and these systems are likely to be central to a zero-carbon emissions grid of the future.

Comments from John Leggate CBE, Chair of GRID

“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.”

Comments from Ben Guest, Fund Manager of GRID

“We are delighted to have completed this acquisition. Arenko is one of only a handful of innovative and technically-capable operators and optimisers of energy storage systems in the market, as demonstrated by their recent announcements. We look forward to working with them as the market burgeons in Great Britain.”

GRID’s Operational Portfolio

Facility

Location

MW

Acquisition date

Staunch

Staffordshire

20

November 2018

Rufford

Nottinghamshire

7

November 2018

Lockleaze

Bristol

15

November 2018

Littlebrook

Kent

8

November 2018

Roundponds

Wiltshire

20

November 2018

Wolverhampton

West Midlands

5

August 2019

Glassenbury

Kent

40

December 2019

Cleator

Cumbria

10

December 2019

Red Scar

Lancashire

49

December 2019

Bloxwich

West Midlands

41

July 2020

Current Operational Portfolio

215

Grid pipeline update

Grid says that minor delays due to COVID-19 restrictions mean the Wickham Market and Thurcroft projects are now expected to be completed by the end of Q3 2020. The Board anticipates any delay to be revenue neutral for the Company. Both of these projects are battery-only sites, each with 50MW import/export capacity.

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