Gresham House Energy Storage Fund has completed the acquisition of a 41MW operational battery in Walsall from a group of investors led by Arenko Cleantech. The acquisition brings the total capacity of operational utility scale battery storage projects in the fund’s investment portfolio to 215MW.
The facility is located on the Bloxwich Industrial estate in Walsall. It was developed by Arenko and utilises the company’s battery software and controls platform. Post-acquisition, Arenko will continue to operate and optimise Bloxwich, which has been acquired by the Fund for an initial value of £20.1 million, with further potential earnout payments.
Bloxwich was commissioned in July 2019 and operates in the Balancing Mechanism, European Power Exchange (EPEX) and other ancillary services markets, such as frequency response. In mid-May 2020, it was used to provide upward and downward reserve flexibility to National Grid in the UK’s first-of-its-kind trial using a battery.
Rupert Newland, chief executive and founder of Arenko Group, added: “This is a transformational deal for Arenko as it marks our transition from an asset owner to a software service provider. We see batteries and other flexible assets playing a meaningful role in the energy transition and believe intelligent AI software platforms will be a crucial enabler to unlock value from batteries globally. We look forward to working with Gresham House in helping them maximise the value of their assets in the future.”
John Leggate CBE, chair of Gresham House Energy Storage Fund said:“Bloxwich is a further step forward in our ambitions to build Great Britain’s essential renewable power storage infrastructure. We’re pleased to welcome Arenko, as one of our partners, to support operational management and trading optimisation at Bloxwich. With the operational portfolio now over 200MW for the first time, we continue to make progress executing on our 2020 plan, and we look forward to updating our shareholders.”
Gresham House’s portfolio and pipeline now totals 315MW. Its projects are:
Operational Portfolio
| Facility | Location | MW | Acquisition date |
| Staunch | Staffordshire | 20 | November 2018 |
| Rufford | Nottinghamshire | 7 | November 2018 |
| Lockleaze | Bristol | 15 | November 2018 |
| Littlebrook | Kent | 8 | November 2018 |
| Roundponds | Wiltshire | 20 | November 2018 |
| Wolverhampton | West Midlands | 5 | August 2019 |
| Glassenbury | Kent | 40 | December 2019 |
| Cleator | Cumbria | 10 | December 2019 |
| Red Scar | Lancashire | 49 | December 2019 |
| Bloxwich | West Midlands | 41 | July 2020 |
Pipeline
| Pipeline Project | Location | MW | Commissioning Date (1) |
| Wickham Market | Suffolk | 50 | Expected Q3 2020 |
| Thurcroft | South Yorkshire | 50 | Expected Q3 2020 |
| Glassenbury extension | Kent | 10 | Expected Q3 2020 |
| Exclusivity Pipeline Project (2) | Near Edinburgh | 30 | Expected Q4 2020 |
| Total Pipeline | 140 | ||