TagEnergy has commenced construction on a 49MW/98MWh energy storage system near Abernethy, following £12.5m funding from Santander UK.
The Jamesfield development is a joint venture with Harmony Energy, following TagEnergy’s acquisition of a 60% stake in the project in November 2021.
It will use a system of Tesla Megapack lithium-ion batteries, together with Tesla’s Autobidder software for real-time trading and control. It is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter this year, with renewable energy company RES as asset manager.
Franck Woitiez, chief executive of TagEnergy, said the company's third battery energy storage facility in the UK reinforced its commitment to the country and its green energy goals.
“This is another important milestone in TagEnergy’s growth in the UK as we leverage our strong storage expertise to support the UK grid and propel the nation to net-zero carbon emissions by connecting more competitive renewable power.
“We are excited to enter this next phase in the project in partnership with Harmony Energy and with the support of Santander UK as we grow our UK footprint to accelerate the energy transition.”
Mark Cumbo, director of specialised and project finance at Santander UK, said: “This follows the funding we provided TagEnergy in 2021 to support Hawkers Hill Energy Park in Dorset, and to TagEnergy and Harmony Energy in 2022 for Chapel Farm near Luton.
“Santander UK strongly supports clients such as TagEnergy and Harmony Energy that are bringing additional capacity to enable greater contribution from renewables to the UK’s energy sector.”
Peter Kavanagh, chief executive of Harmony Energy, said: “We have been working on this site for over four years and are delighted to be progressing to this next stage with TagEnergy, following our partnership which was announced in 2021.
“Securing debt funding from Santander UK demonstrates a growing appetite from institutions to support battery developments and we look forward to working with it.”
Jamesfield is the third TagEnergy investment in battery storage facilities in the UK to reach financial close following its entry into the UK market in 2021. Commissioning of its first project, Hawkers Hill Energy Park, took place in September and construction of its second project, Chapel Farm, started last February.
Jamesfield, Chapel Farm and Hawkers Hill, together with previously-announced projects Roaring Hill in Fife, Lakeside in North Yorkshire and more recently, Pitkevy in Scotland, take TagEnergy’s secured portfolio in the UK to date to 320MW/640MWh.
TagEnergy partnered with Balance Power in October to build, own, and operate 500MW of Balance Power’s renewable energy pipeline requiring an investment of more than £300m over the next four years.
Since its formation in 2019, TagEnergy has assembled a portfolio of close to 4GW based on solar, wind and battery storage technologies in the UK, Portugal, Spain, France and Australia.
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