UK energy storage fund prepares to hit London Stock Exchange with US$130m raised
Britain’s second listed energy storage fund has raised £100 million (US$129.12 million) to trade on the London Stock Exchange.
Articles tagged with: Finance
Refinancing deal for 50MW UK battery ‘proves bankability of storage’ is here
Energy asset developer and owner Statera Energy has clinched a refinancing deal for its 50MW Pelham utility-scale battery storage plant in England, in a transaction which it says demonstrates both the maturity and “bankability” of the asset class.
Leclanché’s main investor ups the ante with US$76m injection
Swiss vertically-integrated battery and energy storage system and equipment maker Leclanché has followed sonnen in netting a significant amount of investment to go into the second half of 2018, securing CHF75 million (US$76 million) from its main existing investor.
Carnegie raises AU$5.3 million for solar, battery and wave energy businesses
Australian firm Carnegie Clean Energy has raised AU$5.3 million (~US$4 million) to grow its solar PV, battery energy storage and wave energy businesses.
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Editor's blog
Forget Brexit: Europe and Britain can unite in energy storage and climate change goals
Already this year we’ve been able to learn directly about the energy storage market in Europe from the Energy Storage Summit in London at the end of February and Energy Storage Europe in Dusseldorf, which just took place last week. Andy Colthorpe summarises what he's seen and heard.
Skeleton Tech CEO: Bankability of ultracapacitors could be key to lithium-ion hybrid potential
Some of the “world’s biggest insurance companies” are investigating the advantages of pairing lithium batteries with ultracapacitors in energy storage systems, which can lower costs and extend battery lifetimes, the CEO of an ultracapacitor maker has said.
RWE and E.On’s Innogy asset swap aims at ‘creating a leading European utility on renewables’
German energy giants E.On and RWE have reached an agreement on a major exchange of business activities, promising a significant shake-up of the duo’s energy interests.
Six developers pre-qualified for 25MW Scaling Solar tender with storage in Madagascar
Madagascar’s Ministry of Water, Energy and Hydrocarbons (MEEH) has released a list of six pre-qualified bidders for the country’s 25MW(AC) Scaling Solar tender, which is the first to include energy storage in its remit.
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Mercom: VC funding for battery storage almost doubled last year
VC funding for energy storage projects increased significantly, while debt and public market financing remained “steady” during 2017, Mercom Capital has found.
Storage investment rush continues as Stem raises US$80 million in Ontario
Stem Inc, self-described as a supplier of “artificial intelligence-powered” energy storage, which deployed a system on average every two days last year, has closed a US$80 million Series D financing round.
Exelon and Albemarle invest to overcome ‘deal-killing tech challenges’ in energy storage
Nuclear generation company Exelon and chemical company Albemarle, which has lithium mining facilities, are investigating opportunities in the energy storage space, having partnered with battery energy storage investor Volta Energy Technologies to do so.
Guest blog
What information are investors looking for when it comes to energy storage?
Having been subject to discussion for years within the academic sphere, energy storage projects have become a topic of high interest to energy sector focused investors in recent years. Philipp Lobnig of E-nable+, an online platform connecting energy projects with investors, offers his views on the key questions these investors should be asking.
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Interviews
Quantifying the UK’s energy storage ‘world of opportunity’
Chris Pritchett of UK law firm Foot Anstey recently served as moderator for the “Developers and financiers debate” at the Energy Storage Conference at the Solar & Storage Live 2017 show in England. Afterwards, Andy Colthorpe caught up with Chris for an in-depth interview on camera.
Mercom: VC funding doubled in first nine months of 2017 over same period last year
The amount of VC funding invested in battery energy storage companies in the first nine months of this year has more than doubled from the equivalent period of 2016, according to a report from Mercom Capital.
Business case for commercial energy storage is ‘100% certain’ in Britain
It is “100% certain” that a solid business case exists for commercial and industrial (C&I) users of electricity in Britain, a financier has said.
Leclanché will reach profitability, investment bank agrees, but not until 2019
A City of London investment bank has said it agrees that Swiss energy storage maker and integrator Leclanché will reach profitability, but expects it to take a year longer than the company itself has predicted.
Former SpaceX battery engineer’s start-up lines up US$30m funding and US$65m sales
An EV and stationary energy storage battery start-up headed by former SpaceX, Tesla, Apple, Amazon and Samsung designers and engineers has mobilised almost US$100 million of financing and contracts to kickstart manufacturing operations.
Nine-hour energy storage requirement makes one natural gas replacement project in California tricky
The requirement of nine hours of energy storage duration at a project touted as a possible replacement for a new natural gas plant in California makes it tough for the newer technology to compete on cost, an analyst has said.
Interviews
Younicos: Energy storage from a pioneer’s perspective
Younicos' CEO Stephen Prince gives the lowdown on the hottest trends in energy storage, why standardisation will create a mainstream market and more.
UK ‘green utility’ Good Energy launches £10m bond to fund storage, EV push
British renewables utility Good Energy has launched a corporate bond offer as it looks to plough investment into a diversification strategy focusing on battery storage and EV charging networks.
USTDA backs one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s first utility solar-plus-storage projects
The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) is continuing its mission of funding priority development projects in emerging economies, this time by signing two grants that leverage US technology and investment to increase access to affordable, reliable electricity in Kenya.
Mercom: Flow batteries lead charge for VC cash in Q1 2017
Flow battery maker Primus Power was leader of the charts in VC funding in the first quarter of 2017, securing US$32 million from a range of investors, according to Mercom Capital’s latest report.
Maxwell to expand Chinese operations with US$47 million strategic equity investment with SDIC
San Diego, California's ultracapacitor-based energy storage manufacturer Maxwell Technologies has signed a stock purchase agreement with China’s SFIC Fund Management – a significant investor in China’s storage industry – at US$6.32 per share.
Electro Power Systems nets €30 million from European Investment Bank
French hybrid energy storage solutions provider Electro Power Systems has secured an equity-linked financing deal to the sum of €30 million (US$31.88 million) with the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Top UK solar investor Foresight closing in on first battery storage acquisition
Foresight Group, one of the top five asset owners in UK solar, is expecting to close its first battery storage acquisition in the coming weeks as it looks to complement its existing infrastructure portfolio.
Macquarie closes ‘first of a kind’ financing on Powerpack 2 projects with AMS in California
A “first-of-its-kind” project financing deal will bring 50MW of Tesla Powerpacks online in California, Macquarie Capital, the investing and advisory arm of global finance corporation Macquarie Group has said.
Victoria to invest another AU$20 million in energy storage initiatives
The government of Victoria in Australia plans to invest AU$20 million (US$15.2 million) in large-scale energy storage initiatives across the state to reach 100MW by the end of 2018.
Morgan Stanley and Deloitte pinpoint potential of energy storage
Financial services giant Morgan Stanley has anticipated that the US energy storage market will grow faster than current consensus expectations, while Deloitte has earmarked the technology for exponential growth – although not perhaps this year.
Major UK solar investors pessimistic over current battery storage opportunity
Listed funds in the UK which own a significant portion of the country’s utility-scale solar PV assets are not currently convinced by battery storage’s feasibility, but remain primed to deploy the technology at scale when the time is right.
Guest blog
The hope invested in rural microgrids deserves better returns
Microgrids—distributed systems of localised generation, distribution network and load—are being increasingly deployed particularly in rural areas of emerging and under-developed countries to achieve energy access. However, a “fragmented and unorganised” sector still faces significant challenges, writes Harsh Thacker.