Siemens’ international financing arm, US development bank NADBank and energy storage developer EnerSmart Storage have signed a US$78.2 million loan facility to finance a fully merchant battery storage project in California totalling 165MW.
The high rates of return in the UK energy storage market seen in the last 6-12 months are unlikely to continue going forward as capex costs increase and ancillary markets saturate.
The world’s largest combined lithium-vanadium battery energy storage system (BESS), the Energy Superhub Oxford (ESO), will soon start fully trading in the UK’s electricity market, showcasing the potential of hybrid assets.
Investors are becoming increasingly comfortable with energy storage as an asset class but numerous regulatory and market design hurdles remain across European markets.