South Yorkshire battery storage sold for £32.5m
Hresham House, the specialist alternative asset manager has confirmed the sale of its c.50MW batter-only project near Thurcroft, to the east of Rotherham.
The sale to Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) completed on 30 October, for approximately £32.5m plus up to £750,000 of deferred contingent consideration.
The site is the largest acquisition by GRID to date and one of the exclusive projects being developed by subsidiaries and associates of Gresham House for sale to the Energy Storage Fund, completing earlier this year. With the asset manager and its wholly owned subsidiary Gresham House Devco and associate Noriker Power making £1.7m of equity and loan investments in the project.
These investments will return an initial net gain on the sale of c.£1.8m, which is consistent with exceeding Gresham House’s 15% return on balance sheet capital threshold over the medium term.
Tony Dalwood, chief executive of Gresham House, said:”It is pleasing to see GRID’s expansion continue with this acquisition, alongside the financial gain to Gresham House shareholders from the development capital investment. As previously demonstrated, we will use our balance sheet where appropriate to scale our long-term asset management capability in renewable infrastructure.
“This is another example of our ongoing commitment to investing in sustainable, resilient assets that deliver long-term value for our clients and exceed return hurdles for shareholders.”
John Leggate CBE, Chair of Gresham House Energy Storage Fund said: “Thurcroft is our largest battery project yet and we’re delighted that it’s now live. The dynamic fluctuations in power on the National Grid during lockdown, and the unassailable rise of wind and solar installations, have sharpened the focus on the need for fast-acting, flexible storage at scale. We’re rising to this challenge by building and switching on more capacity, as the government and National Grid introduce new revenue opportunities that incentivise the wider use of battery storage in balancing the UK power system.”
