Gresham House Energy Storage Fund remains on the acquisition trail, with assets committed to double its 174MW portfolio this year alone.
In its first full year results posted, John Leggate and Ben Guest’s listed vehicle reports a net asset value of £205.9 million, up 6.5 per cent year on year.
Since its IPO in October 2018, the fund has cumulatively raised £238 million, including £31 million this February. Recent confirmed buys on grid-connected sites include 50 MW projects in Suffolk and Yorkshire.
Chairman Leggate said exclusivity agreements covering four further projects will bring Gresham’s operational capacity up to 364MW by December 2020.
More batteries, less baseload
Leggate says Britain currently has 1GW of battery storage currently in operation, which Gresham believes must grow tenfold by 2024.
Investment director Guest added that increasing periods of negative prices underpin the fund’s strategy. “As … renewable energy grows, the amount of temporary excess generation will get worse”, he stated.
“By our estimates, instances of more than 10GW of excess power from renewables will occur frequently within the next four years, requiring 10GW of energy storage. In ten years, this could reach 30GW.”
He added: “Now that renewables have reached a tipping point, every additional unit of power generation will cause an increasing oversupply at certain times, while also reducing the market available for baseload, forcing this type of generation out of existence and creating a deeper trough in generation when renewables do not generate”.
Full report here.
Related stories:
12MW solar farm powers up as owner Gresham House mulls colocating storage
Gresham House buys 50MW battery project, on track for 330MW
Gresham House raises £31m to buy more big batteries
Habitat Energy lands 74MW battery management deal for Gresham House
Gresham House taps Flexitricity for 20MW hybrid project
Kiwi to manage 15MW of Gresham House battery storage
Gresham House hires EDF to optimise 24MW of flex
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