Miner-turned-flex trader Corcel agrees terms for Avonmouth gas peaker project

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AIM-quoted company-in-transition Corcel has advanced further towards its second gas peaking and flex trading facility, buying full rights to a 50MW ‘shovel ready’ project near the port of Avonmouth.

An immediate 50MW grid connection, plus an intended 30 year lease over the project’s site, come as part of its purchase from FPC Electric Land, investors learned last Friday (28th May).

Close to the plot on Avonmouth’s industrial park  are two other storage projects, a 33MW site being developed by a third party, and 1.38 acres expected to be made available for up to 15MW of generation and/or batteries.

The two parties have six months to complete the initial leasehold transfer. Corcel will pay equal instalments of £72,000 immediately and then again on completion.

Corcel was known until December as Regency Mines, extracting battery-critical nickel and cobalt from Papua New Guinea, and Canadian vanadium. CEO Scott Kaintz intends building a UK portfolio of 300 MW of grid-scale tradeable reserve storage, each project such as Avonmouth being ring-fenced as a special purpose vehicle.

Three weeks ago, the firm revealed its talks with DNO UKPN had secured the re-scheduling of grid fees to connect another 50 MW battery, at Burwell in Cambridgeshire. Corcel intends a 50MW co-located solar farm as Burwell’s second phase.

A 40% share in a third project, another incipient 50MW gas peaker near Aylesbury, adds to Corcel’s portfolio.

Core of the Avonmouth project will be 25 two-Megawatt generators. The firm is talking to nearby industrial power consumers.  Independent advisors have told Corcel that gross margins of between £67,000 and £101,000 per MW per year are feasible once the project is operational, probably within twelve months.

CEO Kaintz today hailed Corcel’s expanding partnership with FPC Electric Land.  “It brings with it a dovetailing of capabilities and interests” he said, “ours in the underlying energy projects themselves and theirs in the land ownership and ongoing land lease revenue”.

By the end of last Friday AIM investors had marked Corcel’s shares 8.6%  higher, at 1.90 pence, valuing the firm at £6.7 million.

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