Constantine Energy Storage has concluded a financing agreement of £ 180 million with a multinational bank consortium for a 612 MW Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) portfolio.
The announcement was made by the German Energy Transition Bank Nord/LB, one of the banks in the financing consortium. Other financial institutions that are increased during this financing are Virgin Money, Société Générale and EDC.
The nine-ashes portfolio is the largest portfolio ever financed in Europe, according to Constantine, and all assets are in England and Wales.
According to Nord/LB, seven of the nine assets are on land adjacent to substations, making transmission a simpler process. All nine assets will use 2.7 hours of batteries, with the entire portfolio having a total capacity of 612 MW/1,652GWH. A statement from the Financial Consortium says that this is supposed to improve operational efficiency.
“This groundbreaking Bess financing agreement is a good example of the groundbreaking renewable energy that we deliver to Nord/LB,” said Florian Hock, senior director at Nord/LB. “The Bess portfolio is the largest ever financed in Europe, and we are very happy that we have worked together with Constantine Energy storage on this very important project that will considerably stimulate the energy storage options of the UK.”
Solar -Energy Portal Note that £ 180 million will probably not cover the entire Capex that is needed for 1.65 GWH Bess, so the rest will probably come from other sources of financing.
Constantine Energy Storage has made considerable progress in the UK Bess portfolio in recent months. Last month the company announced that it had appointed two companies to optimize five of its battery activa in the UK. Habitat Energy will optimize three transmission activa-icker Hill, near Birmingham, Whitegate, near Manchester and Monk Fryston, near Leeds, all of whom have a capacity of 57 MW and will use 2.7 hours of endurance systems. These assets are expected to come online by the summer of this year.
In the meantime, EDF route-to-market and optimization services will offer two of the assets of Constantine Energy Storage. The two locations, Capenhurst in Cheshire and Legacy in North Wales, also each last 57 MW capacity and 2.7 hours. EDF will use his Powershift -optimization platform in both assets, the company says that it will help to maximize income generation in support services, wholesalers and the balancing market.
Battery income in the UK has been raised in the past year, such as reported by our sister publication Power ±. New data from market analyst Cornwall Insight have shown that the average bess income has quadrupled in the past year, with half of this turnout taking place since December 2024. Cornwall Insight attributed a lot of this turnout to the introduction of the National Energy System Operator’s (NESOs) (NESOs) New fast reserve frequency management service in November 2024.
