Gresham House Energy Storage Fund buys large battery site in Essex

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC on Friday said it has agreed to buy a 480 megawatt battery project near Rayleigh, Essex.

The London-based investor in utility-scale battery energy storage systems said once built, the site will be almost five times the size of its largest currently operational project.

‘This project’s size should lead to economies of scale, while its location is also very attractive,’ the company said.

The location in southern England means it is expected to benefit from negative grid charges for the first few years of its life, as well as over 6 gigawatts of new intermittent offshore wind power.

Completion of the acquisition is conditional on receiving an acceptable ‘Gate 2’ connection offer, the firm added.

The offer is expected to be received between September 2026 and January 2027.

‘Rayleigh is an exciting project for [the company] in terms of its sheer size, strategic location and, of course, potential investment returns and positive expected impact on the company’s [net asset value] per share. This project alone would add almost 50% to the currently operational portfolio’s installed capacity and greatly expands the new project pipeline already announced in our three-year plan,’ said Fund Manager Ben Guest.

Separately, the company said its NAV per share at the end of March was 114.56 pence, up 1.1% from 113.34p at the end of December.

The largest gain for NAV, worth 1.30p, was from net movement in working capital, fund and debt costs. The biggest fall, 1.05p, was from changes to independent third-party revenue forecasts.

‘We are pleased to report another quarter of NAV growth, which reflects the improved cash generation within the business. We have been hard at work with asset augmentations and securing funding for the recently acquired projects in order to begin their construction,’ said Fund Manager Ben Guest.

‘The manager’s focus is now on executing the construction of these projects to get MWs and MWhs online and increase the portfolio’s cash generation.’

Shares in Gresham House Energy Storage Fund were up 0.6% at 76.43p on Friday morning in London.

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