Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) developer Fidra Energy has announced that it has received up to £ 445 million in new stock investments to finance the Thorpe Marsh Bess.
Financing comes from institutional investor Eig, who launched Fidra Energy in October last year, And the UK’s National Wealth Fund (NWF). With this, Fidra Energy has achieved financial closure on his Thorpe Marsh Bess project, based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
The Thorpe Marsh Bess is a 1.4 GW/3.1GWH project that, once completed, will be the largest Bess in the UK and one of the largest in Europe. The construction has been set to start immediately and the site is expected to be operational from mid -2027.
In addition to the newly received £ 445 million in stock investments, the site will be financed by loan facilities of £ 594 million from a club of international banks; These include ABN AMRO, China Minsheng, CIBC, Deutsche Bank AG, Investec Bank, MUFG, Natwest, Nord LB, Santander CIB, Siemens Bank via Siemens Financial Services, SMBC, Societe General and Standard Chartered Bank.
The NWF has dedicated £ 200 million in finance, which also goes to other projects in the Bess -Pijplijn from Fidra Energy. This includes another large -scale project, the 500 MW/1.1GWH West Burton Bess in Nottinghamshire.
According to Fidra Energy, the Thorpe Marsh and West Burton projects together can offer a maximum of 11% of the new storage capacity that is needed to meet the Clean Power 2030 goals of the British government. The developer has previously declared his ambitions to have an operational portfolio of 10 GW in the United Kingdom and Europe by 2030.
Fidra Energy has already concluded long-term purchase agreements for the Thorpe Marsh project, with EDF, Octopus Energy and Statkraft inking-Deals for approximately 80% of the capacity of the project. The project also received a fifteen -year capacity market price of the British government in March 2025, which will start in October 2028. The building permit was secured for the site in January of this year; The project will be on 55 hectares of land that previously had a coal -fired power plant and is sitting next to an existing substation.
In November 2024, Fidra Energy has signed an agreement with Sungrow, That will see the Thorpe Marsh Bess, as well as the 500 MW/1GWH West Burton C Bess, supplied with Sungrow’s liquid-cooled Power-Titan 2.0 BESS units. According to the agreement, Sungrow will also offer long -term maintenance services for both sites. Although the Thorpe Marsh Bess will initially house a system with a duration of 2 hours, Sungrow notes that expansion to a 4-hour system is possible at a later time.
National Wealth Fund Interim Chief Executive Officer Ian Brown stated that this investment emphasizes the role of the NWF as an “important player in the storage sector”. He added that the NWF will “play a meaningful role in helping the UK to achieve its clean energy ambitions through our support for these and other important projects”.
Energy secretary Ed Miliband expressed his enthusiasm for the project and said: “It is fantastic to see the National Wealth Fund New Life breathing in a former Kolensite Versen it in an advanced battery hub that will provide thousands of British houses and companies with clean energy and solar energy.”
Walid Mouawad, Eig’s director and worldwide head of Energy Transition, called the Thorpe Marsh Bess “a crucial UK Infrastructure Asset that is able to accelerate the energy transition by integrating renewable energy sources into the energy system and strengthening the schedule”.
