Acquisition of a 50 MW battery storage project

JLEN, the listed environmental infrastructure fund, is pleased to announce the acquisition of a 50% equity stake in Sandridge Battery Storage Limited (“SBSL”). SBSL holds the development rights to construct the Sandridge Battery Storage project, a 50MW lithium-ion battery energy storage plant based in Melksham in Wiltshire, UK. The investment has been made alongside Foresight Solar Fund Limited.

The acquisition will see JLEN invest up to £12.7m over the next 12-18 months. The Sandridge project is fully consented and construction ready. The project is expected to reach energisation and start commercial operations in October 2022.

The project will be connected to Southern Electric Power Distribution plc’s distribution network and has a 49.9MW import and export connection. The project will provide stability to the grid through provision of Dynamic Containment, or by reducing volatility on the system via wholesale trading in the wholesale power markets and/or the Balancing Mechanism, a tool used by the National Grid to balance supply and demand in real time.

This acquisition represents JLEN’s fourth investment into battery storage systems, adding to the two co-located batteries that the Company owns as part of its run-of-river hydro portfolio, as well as the standalone West Gourdie project in Scotland, which was acquired in March 2021.

Richard Morse, Chairman of JLEN, said:

“We are happy to announce JLEN’s latest investment into the energy storage market which is our second grid-scale battery project and the fourth asset to be added to JLEN’s portfolio of battery energy storage systems. We believe that assets such as these will provide a vital balancing mechanism to the grid that will aid in the rollout of intermittently generating renewable energy systems and play an important role in the decarbonisation agenda of the national grid.”

Below is an interview with the investment team, Chris Tanner & Chris Holmes who talk us through the highlights from the recent interim results