Battery energy storage system (BESS) developer-operator Peregrine Energy Solutions has secured US$130 million from investors, including the South Korean Ministry of Environment, to support its “strategic expansion in key markets” in the US.
The company, founded in 2022 as a partnership between developer Peregrine Energy Management and investment asset manager Castlelake, focusing on utility-scale BESS assets, announced the capital raise earlier this week (22 October).
The financing comes from an investor consortium that includes South Korea’s Ministry of Environment, two South Korean investment firms —IMM Investment and Woori Private Equity Asset Management —and funds managed by the US investment group AB CarVal.
While Peregrine has two projects in late-stage development in the ERCOT, Texas, market, including a 150MW project currently under construction, the developer said the new funds will be used to accelerate its “strategic expansion in key markets throughout the nation.”
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The company has raised around a billion dollars to date. After first featuring in Energy-Storage.news for its acquisition of the two ERCOT projects from Black Mountain Energy Storage in 2023, Peregrine secured US$700 million in credit, equity and debt from investors, including AB CarVal, that August, having already welcomed IMM on board as an investor a short while before.
At the time, the company said its pipeline included solar PV and wind as well as energy storage, although this focus on renewables appears to have been pared back since.
Around this time last year, US investment firm KKR committed up to US$250 million in debt financing to advance a development pipeline which Peregrine claimed comprised 37 utility-scale BESS projects in 11 US states and five independent system operator (ISO) territories.
Then, the developer netted US$168 million in the first quarter of this year in a combination of equity and bridge financing to fund the ongoing construction of its 150MW Texas project, for which Peregrine has selected Wärtsilä as the BESS technology provider.
“South Korea views the United States as a critical partner in strengthening energy infrastructure necessary for the energy transition. This investment reflects our shared commitment to ensuring reliable, affordable power and building a resilient and sustainable energy system,” said Jongseo An, deputy director of the Ministry of the Environment of South Korea.
“We are confident these projects will play a key role in supporting US power needs and enhancing grid stability for the future. The Korea-US alliance, which spans over a hundred years, continues to make the US a preferred destination for strategic investment. This enduring relationship provides the long-term vision needed for transformative energy projects.”
Climate-focused community bank funds Virginia BESS projects
In other US battery storage financing news, two projects in Virginia totalling 20MW/80MWh have been financed by Climate First Bank, which claims to be a world-first “values-based, digital-forward community bank founded to combat the climate crisis.”
Insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Climate First Bank launched in 2021 to offer personal and commercial banking services alongside mission-aligned technologies, including rooftop solar PV and other renewable energy sources, building retrofits, electric vehicle (EV) charging, and carbon offset credits.
The bank has financed two projects in the rural towns of Exmore and Tasley, located approximately 24 kilometres apart on the eastern coast of the state.
The project developer is Patterson Enterprises, and the battery storage supplier will be the Chinese provider Great Power. Terms of the financial close were not disclosed in a Climate First Bank release.
The projects will be built near the A&N Electric Cooperative Substations in each town, using lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology.
“In all our years of doing business, we have never been involved in projects more important or more exciting than those in battery energy storage,” Patterson Enterprises CEO Harold Patterson said.
“The US electric grid needs energy storage now more than ever, and that need will only intensify as industries evolve and power consumption rises to meet growing demand.”
