VIDEO: Industry leaders on financing utility-scale battery storage in the UK

By Solar Media Staff
May 19, 2021
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Energy storage is flourishing in the UK, with economics becoming more viable due to falling costs and the growth of an industry capable of taking assets into a variety of energy and power market opportunities. This expert panel from the Energy Storage Summit 2021 brought together leading figures in the finance community with a direct involvement in the energy storage space to discuss the different financing and business models they’ve seen so far, and how they expect the market to evolve.

The session was moderated by Carina Radford, a partner at law firm White & Case, which has advised on some of the biggest battery storage projects in the world including the Hornsdale Power Reserve in South Australia. Radford asks panellists including Jonty Lovell investment manager at Foresight Group and Olivier Fricot, senior coverage director of infrastructure and power finance at Investec, what their views are on financing energy storage projects, from what Fricot described as the “small subset” of financiers prepared to invest into projects with merchant risk to a noticeable “turning point” in the sector over the past year or so identified by Lovell, “where economics have started to become more viable, certainly for equity investors”.

This event took place online in March 2021.

Taking part were:

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Moderator: Carina Radford, partner at White & Case

Panelists: Olivier Fricot, senior coverage director of power & infrastructure finance for Investec

Jonty Lovell, investment manager at Foresight Group EU

Julian Lynn, regional head of Middle East and Asia Pacific at UK Export Finance

Stephane Tetot, investment director at BlackRock Infrastructure

Presenter / Producer: Lucy Jacobson-Durham, Solar Media

Cover image: Rendering of London Gateway, the biggest planned battery storage project in the UK. Image: InterGen.

Energy Storage Summit is returning for the 7th year on 22-23 February 2022 in a live format! It will continue to foster and accelerate investment and deployment of energy storage globally. Through informative panel sessions and case studies from leading industry figures, networking roundtables and private workshop sessions. We will also see the return of the exhibition hall where you can explore the innovative solutions and products available within the industry and exchange business ideas.

There are digital tickets also available.

Visit the website here for tickets and more information.

6 October 2026
Warsaw, Poland
The Energy Storage Summit Central Eastern Europe is set to return in September 2025 for its third edition, focusing on regional markets and the unique opportunities they present. This event will bring together key stakeholders from across the region to explore the latest trends in energy storage, with a focus on the increasing integration of energy storage into regional grids, evolving government policies, and the growing need for energy security.
13 October 2026
London, UK
Now in its second edition, the Summit provides a dedicated platform for UK & Ireland’s BESS community to share practical insights on performance, degradation, safety, market design and optimisation strategies. As storage deployment accelerates towards 2030 targets, attendees gain the tools needed to enhance returns and operate resilient, efficient assets.

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