The British Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) company has protected new financing to continue to build up its British project pipeline.
The £ 42 million non-recourse loan from Rabobank and ING will finance the use of 125 MW of BESS projects in England and Scotland.
The loan includes financing for three 2 -hour battery storage projects in Whitebirk (25 MW), Holmston (50 MW) and Drumboerderij (50 MW). In England it is expected that Field Whitebirk, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, will start the operation later this year. To the north of the border, Field Holmston in Ayr, South Ayrshire and Field Drum Farm in Keith, Moray will start the operation from 2026 and 2027 respectively.
The agreement with ING and Rabobank also includes the use of GAIA, Field’s internal flexibility platform, to optimize the implementation of all three sites, once operational. Field launched Gaia for the first time on his site in Oldham, Greater Manchester in December 2024, and automated participation in the intraday, wholesale and balancing markets on a daily basis.
The UK has one of the world’s leading Bess markets and a recent action plan for clean energy for the government predicts the need for a maximum of 27 GW battery storage towards the end of this decade. The current capacity is approximately 5 GW.
The growing installed base of solar and wind energy capacity increases the risk of limitation when more power is produced from variable sources such as it can then accommodate the grid. In the first two months of 2025 alone, the UK ran £ 253 million in costs with regard to the management of surplus wind energy, a significant increase of £ 158 million in the same period in 2024.
Stephen White, Chief Financial Officer of Field, said: “Battery storage plays an increasingly important role in a food system that is run by cleaner electricity, reducing the need for limitation, and therefore, valuable restriction payments at a time that energy bills are already high.
