The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) has acquired a 100% equity interest in Project Spennymoor, a battery development project which will have a total capacity of 100MW / 200MWh when completed, from RES.
Project Spennymoor is situated in County Durham, close to a high voltage substation connection. TRIG said it was “ideally located to alleviate grid constraints and provide balancing services for the significant industrial cluster in the Humber region”.
The project is in the late-stage development phase with planning permission, a grid connection offer and land lease options. The grid connection does not currently allow for the start of operations before 2031 but work is underway to bring forward the grid connection date if possible. Construction works will be timed to commence approximately a year before the connection date when finalised.
Once operational, Project Spennymoor is expected to represent 2% of TRIG’s portfolio by value. The initial development investment is approximately 10% of the total anticipated investment.
Richard Crawford, Head of Energy Income Funds at TRIG’s advisor, InfraRed Capital Partners, said: “TRIG’s investment in Project Spennymoor deepens our position in the flexible capacity sector, which is going to become increasingly important as renewables penetration increases. Investments in battery storage projects such as these not only complement the renewable generation assets in the portfolio, but also leverage the strong expertise of InfraRed and RES.”
TRIG has also taken an 11% equity interest in the Merkur offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. This incremental investment is approximately 2% of TRIG’s portfolio value. TRIG will hold a 36% equity interest in Merkur and the total stake in the Project will represent approximately 6% of TRIG’s portfolio by value.