Renewable energy investor TRIG has acquired a significant County Durham battery storage project which is due to be built.
The FTSE250 London-listed firm has bought the 100MW/200MWh 'Project Spennymoor' development from renewable energy company RES, which secured planning permission for the site in September. The undisclosed deal sees TRIG take control of the storage development which is yet to be built but is described as being in "late-stage development phase".
TRIG said the project is ideally located next to a high voltage substation connection and once operational will help to alleviate grid constraints and provide power to the industrial users in the Humber region. RES had already secured land lease options for the site at land to the south of an existing electrical substation on Thinford Lane.
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However, a secured grid connection may not come until 2031. TRIG said a bid is underway to bring forward that date forward and construction of the battery storage facility will be timed to start around a year before this is finalised.
Once operational, TRIG says Spennymoor will represent 2% of its £3.2bn portfolio that spans six countries. It said the initial development investment is around 10% of the total anticipated investment.
Richard Crawford, head of Energy Income Funds at InfraRed Capital Partners, which acts as TRIG's investment manager, 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."
Lucy Whitford, UK&I managing director, RES, said: "Energy storage has a critical role to play in the infrastructure of the UK by increasing the volume of renewables on our grid. This allows consumers to benefit from the lowest cost form of energy. Spennymoor will play a part in this transition and we’re pleased to partner again with TRIG on this project."
When RES secured planning permission for the project earlier this year, Alan McMahon, head of Energy Storage at RES, said: "We are very pleased that Durham County Council has chosen to back this important infrastructure, which has been carefully sited and designed to optimise the land available for development. Energy storage systems like the Spennymoor project are essential for a stable and secure electricity system; the resilience of which is crucial for the UK’s future energy security."
TRIG invests in wind, solar and battery storage projects that cumulatively generate more than 2.4GW of renewable power - enough for 1.7m homes and reportedly enough to avoid more than two million tonnes of carbon emissions each year.
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