The Anonymous Widower

Centrica And UK Infrastructure Bank Announce Significant Investment Into Sustainable Electricity Funds

The title of this post is the same as that of this press release from Centrica.

This is the sub-heading.

Funds set to help supercharge UK’s transition to cleaner, greener energy

These four paragraphs outline the investment.

Centrica and UK Infrastructure Bank have today announced they are investing up to £265 million in sustainable energy storage to help drive the country’s transition to a cleaner, greener and more resilient electricity network.

The proposed investment will support the development of new energy storage, following the Bank’s expression of interest to find innovative ways to fund and increase the nation’s storage capacity.

The Bank will invest £75 million on a match funding basis into the Gresham House Secure Income Renewable Energy & Storage LP (SIRES) alongside a £65 million investment from Centrica.

UK infrastructure Bank has committed to invest £125 million on a match-funding basis into Equitix UK Electricity Storage Fund.

Note.

1. Centrica describes itself on its web site, as an energy services and solutions company.
2. The Wikipedia entry for the UK Infrastructure Bank, says it is a British state-owned development bank.
3. The Equitix web site has a mission statement sating it is a responsible investor, investing in, developing and managing global infrastructure assets, which materially contribute to the lives of the communities they serve.

By supporting two energy storage funds, it is to be hoped that more electricity storage is added to the UK electricity network.

This is a paragraph in the press release.

Currently National Grid forecasts show that up to 29 GW of total storage could be needed by 2030 and up to 51 GW by 2050. This is a huge increase on the 5 GW currently available and means there is a clear need to accelerate deployment of capital and investment in new storage projects.

I doubt there will be any problems deploying new energy storage.

The press release then has a paragraph on what each fund will do with the money.

Gresham House Secure Income Renewable Energy & Storage LP (SIRES)

I will pick these important points from the paragraph.

• Centrica and the UK Investment Bank will invest on a matched funding basis.
• Centrica will be a cornerstone investor, and this marks the first time the business has invested in such a fund.
• Collocation of renewable generation and short duration electricity storage facilities to help maximise grid connections.
• The seed asset will be a collocated solar and battery energy storage project in Hartlepool, County Durham, with 50 MWp solar capacity and 75 MWh of battery energy storage.
• Centrica will seek to provide a route-to-market for the assets in the fund once they become operational.

You could almost consider this a When the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine fund.

Equitix UK Electricity Storage Fund

I will pick these important points from the paragraph.

• The Bank will support the launch of the fund by committing to invest up to £125million on a match-funding basis.
• The fund will focus on a combination of innovative business models across both short and long duration storage. Short duration strategies may include installation in households and at underutilised commercial premises, as well as co-location.
• The fund will also aim to deploy a range of long duration storage technologies, such as pumped-hydro.

Does a range of technologies mean that they will support new storage technologies?

Hulam Farm, Hartlepool

This page on the Lightsource-BP web site is entitled Proposed Solar Installation At Hulam Farm.

This is the first paragraph.

The proposal involves Lightsource bp funding the development of a solar installation that will connect into the local electricity network, with an output power capacity of 49.9MW (Megawatts).

Could this be the solar part of the Hartlepool project mentioned in the press release?

• Lightsource BP are experienced funders of solar farms.
• Gresham House have built many batteries of the size needed.
• I don’t think technically, there will be too many problems.

I shall watch this development with interest.

What’s In It For Centrica?

I have to ask this question.

Consider.

• Centrica is part-owner of the 270 MW Lincs offshore wind farm, which was commissioned in September 2013.
• Centrica is half-owner of the 194 MW Lynn and Inner Dowsing wind farm, which was commissioned in March 2009.
• Both these wind farms have separate substations in Lincolnshire.
• Centrica also have interests in two onshore wind farms in Scotland, that have a combined capacity of 98 MW.

I wonder how many times these wind farms have been shut down because of too much electricity?

Will Gresham House pit batteries on these sites?

 

 

 

March 31, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Energy, Energy Storage, Finance | BP, Centrica, Gresham House, Hartlepool, Lightsource, UK Infrastructure Bank