Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 12TH - 18TH OCTOBER 2018 | 15 This week Gresham House plans £200m battery fund Asset management firm has identified five operational battery storage sites for investment Asset management firm Gresham House has announced plans to create a fund with the aim of raising £200 million to invest in utility-scale energy storage. The company said lithium-ion batteries would soak up surplus generation from intermittent renewables and support their integration into the energy sys- tem by providing balancing services to National Grid. Gresham House has identified a portfolio of five operational battery storage facilities – with a combined capacity of 70MW – for the fund to invest in. The company plans to complete an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in early Novem- ber. Of the £200 million it hopes to raise, £30 million has already been secured from the management team and institutional investors. The fund will be managed by the new energy division of Gresham House Asset Management. Ben Guest, head of Gresham House New Energy, said: "The UK energy storage market is set for signifi- cant growth. However, the total potential of energy storage is currently limited by a lack of experienced operators, and this problem will only intensify, with demand for storage rapidly increasing as the deploy- ment of renewable energy installations continues apace and the traditional coal and gas-fired generation is retired. "We believe energy storage has significant potential from an institutional investment standpoint, and is the key to a renewable energy future in the UK." TG ENERGY Spending review to focus on efficiency Improving the energy efficiency of the public sector estate will be part of the Treasury's upcoming pan-Whitehall spending review, one of the department's junior ministers has signalled. At a fringe meeting at the Conservative party conference, exchequer secretary Robert Jenrick identified greater energy efficiency as the key to achiev- ing better value for taxpayers' money when the Treasury con- ducts its next review of govern- ment spending next year. He said: "If we build schools, hospitals and public buildings, we want commissioning authori- ties in the first instance to be thinking about what is the most modern, efficient way of build- ing. We would like that to flow through into energy efficiency." ENERGY Green group invests £1.6bn in first year The Green Investment Group made or arranged £1.6 billion of investments in clean energy projects in the 12 months aer its privatisation, according to its first annual progress report. The group was involved in ten new transactions over the period relating to offshore wind and energy-from-waste projects in the UK, onshore wind projects in the US and Sweden, and solar projects in India. The organisation was set up by the government as the Green Investment Bank in 2012. It was rebranded as the Green Investment Group aer being sold to Macquarie for £2.3 billion in August 2017. There was wide- spread opposition to the sale due to concerns the bank was being sold for too little, could be broken up and stripped of its assets and might abandon its environmental mission. ELECTRICITY Ofgem backs SPEN's flexibility project Ofgem has authorised an invest- ment of almost £6 million in SP Energy Networks' (SPEN's) Project Fusion flexibility scheme. The regulator confirmed its support for the scheme, under which people's electricity demand and supply "flexibility" will be traded in a newly-created digital marketplace. If Project Fusion is success- fully rolled out across the UK, it could result in more than £200 million of savings in electricity bills by 2050. SPEN is working with organi- sations including Fife Council, the University of St Andrews and Imperial College London. The total investment in the project will be £5.67 million – £5.1 million from Ofgem's Network Innovation Competition fund. Renewables mean storage growth, says Gresham Finance & Investment Stock watch 900 850 800 750 NATIONAL GRID SHARE PRICE, ONE MONTH Jun 2018 Aug 2018 Oct 2018 NATIONAL GRID SHARE PRICE, SIX MONTH National Grid's stock rose aer news that regulator Ofgem gave it permission to recover £111.3 million through network charges to replace a major gas pipeline under the Humber estuary. Its shares rose from 787.4p on 1 October to 791.6p on 2 October and again on 3 October, to 798.8p. The Feeder 9 transmission pipeline carries gas from the Easington terminal on the east coast of England towards the southwest of the country. 810 800 790 780 770 760 17 Sep 24 Sep 1 Oct 8 Oct pence pence

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