Gresham House Energy Storage Fund boosts growth plan with Essex site

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC on Wednesday said its growth plan is now more ambitious, following the addition of the Rayleigh project to its pipeline in May.

The London-based investor in utility-scale battery energy storage systems said its NAV per share as of June 30 was 131.30p, up 16% from 113.34p as of December 31.

The increase was primarily due to the revaluation of 397 megawatts of projects under construction using a discounted cash flow valuation, the fund said. This accounted for 14.33 pence of the 17.96 pence increase in NAV per share.

Underlying portfolio revenue in the first half ended June 30 rose 9.5% to £34.7 million from about £31.7 million a year earlier, and was driven by an increase in operational capacity, the company said.

Revenue per operational megawatt fell to £63,200 from £75,100 a year earlier. Gresham attributed this to weaker merchant revenue and some assets being offline for augmentation and maintenance work.

The above figures include £1.1 million in liquidated damages from revenue lost due to the late commissioning of the West Bradford project, Gresham said.

Underlying portfolio earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were £23.5 million, up 15% from about £20.5 million.

Following the planned addition of the Rayleigh 480MW battery energy storage project in Essex, Gresham said its growth plan is "now more ambitious".

The new 480-megawatt site, which will be almost five times the size of its largest currently operational project, offset a reduction in planned augmentations to its existing portfolio.

Despite the addition of Rayleigh, the fund lowered its annual Ebitda forecast by 6.0% to £141 million from £150 million.

However, the company explained that the amount of equity it required to achieve the target fell sharply to about £25 million from £300 million, "significantly improving prospective equity returns."

Elsewhere, Gresham has reduced planned augmentations from 1.5 gigawatt-hours to 350 megawatt-hours across eight assets in 2026. It said the reduction would remove about £180 million of capital expenditure and reduce the need for further equity funding.

The company also announced that it has formed a strategic partnership with Summit Transition Partners, which acquired 25% stakes in Cockenzie, Monet's Garden and Elland 2. Gresham said the partnership provides a long-term funding platform to support its growth plans.

Chair John Leggate said the first half of 2026 marked a transition from preparing Gresham's growth plan to executing it.

"Behind all these actions lies one overarching objective: to maintain a meticulous focus on delivering value for shareholders by growing earnings, return on equity, and NAV per share," he said.

Looking ahead, fund manager Ben Guest said the company was focused on the design, procurement and funding of its next group of projects.

Shares in Gresham were up 6.0% at 104.00 pence on Wednesday morning in London.

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