Essener Operator BW ESS has introduced a new debt financing deal for the Bramley Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project.
The Bramley Bess is a 100 MW/331MWH Operational Bess development in Bramley, Hampshire, which was confirmed in February of this year in what Erik Strømsø, CEO of BW Ess called “A Landmark Moment for BW ESS” UK Rollout “.
Now, after what BW ESS has described as a “very competitive financing process”, a financial package is secured, with the Australian Bank Westpac and the Finance Institution UOB established in Singapore that each contribute to the debt facility. The parties involved have chosen not to reveal the size of the financial package at the moment.
The Bramley project benefits from a seven-year toll agreement with Shell Energy Europe, and BW ESS claims that De Bess has constantly exceeded the expectations for technical and income performance since it was inaugurated earlier this year.
Sungrow supplied the battery units for the project and offered the 3-hour Powertitan 2.0 BESS units of the company for the Bramley Bess. This marks the second time that Sungrow and BW ESS have collaborated, with the two companies that have previously worked together on a supply agreement for the Hams Hall Energy Storage Project in North Warwickshire, England, a 350 MW/1,750MWH Bess project funded by BW ESS.
This is the second external financing deal BW ESS is quickly closed in succession; As reported by our sister site News for energy storage, BW ESS has one at the end of April Loan agreement with Nordea Bank, Who will finance the 211MW Swedish energy storage portfolio of the company.
Marc Weisser, CFO of BW ESS, mentioned the Bramley project “A Flagship Asset” in the growing British portfolio of the company, adding that the company is “encouraged by the exceptionally high level of interest that the project has generated by the credit community”. Weisser then praised the credit partners involved in the deal, and added that both Uob and Westpac “have demonstrated a fixed dedication to support the global roll -out of strategically important Bess projects”.
Westpac’s head of energy, infrastructure and resources, agreed Sarah Heavey and described the project as “an important milestone in energy storage with longer duration” and added that Westpac is “pleased” to have supported BW ESS for this financing.
Currently, BW ESS has various projects under construction or development, including the 1.4GWH Hams Hall project that is currently in construction, a development of 0.7 GWH in the pre-construction at Berkswell and a development feeding line that consists of five extra projects with a capacity of approximately 1 GW.
The Bramley Bess is unique in various ways; First, it was the first project outside of China that used Sungrow’s AC block technology, and it remains the longest large-scale Bess in the UK, with a duration of 3.3 hours.
BW ESS ‘CTO NAN JIA noted in an exclusive interview with Energy storage. New premium that one of the reasons why the company chose to use the Bess technology of Sungrow was the speed at which the cabinets could be installed on site; Installation lasted only one hour per BESS cabinet, and BW Ess called the units “the most installation-friendly system they have experienced.”
