NEC Energy Solutions has been selected by the UK’s first listed fund targeting energy storage to deliver two projects totalling 19MW, including what could be the largest behind the meter installation in the country.
Gore Street Capital’s Energy Storage Fund acquired the Port of Tilbury and Lower Road projects from Origami Energy in September. They both had all land and grid access rights, planning and other consents necessary to start construction and enter operations upon acquisition.
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NEC will carry out the EPC duties, supported by Nippon Koei (NK), to begin construction in December 2018 and January 2019 respectively, with commercial operations scheduled to start in mid‐2019.
Steve Fludder, chief executive of NEC Energy Solutions, said: “We couldn’t be happier with our role in the Gore Street Energy Storage Fund and we look forward to working with Gore Street Capital on future projects as they continue to build out their portfolio.”
The first of the two projects will be co-located with London's Port of Tilbury industrial port facility, Thames and at 9MW, the NEC GSS Grid Storage Solution would, on current comparisons, become the largest behind‐the‐meter battery storage system in the UK.
It will use a metering scheme, installed by NK, to enable the battery system to reduce the Port’s peak demand while integrating with existing renewable generation on site.
Meanwhile, the 10MW Lower Road project will be grid connected to provide front of the meter grid services. It will benefit from three revenue stream contracts including services to the capacity market, participating in TRIADs and providing dynamic firm frequency response services to National Grid.
The brace of projects was Gore Street’s first investment following the acquisition of the two seed assets in June 2018 and the IPO of the fund on 25 May 2018, when the fund secured £35 million of investment compared to a target of £100 million.
Alex O'Cinneide, chief executive of the fund’s investment adviser Gore Street Capital, said: “The EPC contracts are an important milestone in the commercialization process and we are delighted to have secured such a highly regarded partner.”
Gore Street’s batteries are the latest contract wins for NEC Energy Solutions in the UK, where it previously delivered a 50MW portfolio of projects for VLC Energy at the start of the year. A case study looking at the 10MW Cleator and 40MW Glassenbury projects in detail can be found here.