The battery storage market in the UK has become a viable investment opportunity in just the past few months, even without the backing of long-term contracts for grid services, according to an investment manager in the renewable energy sector.
The Green Investment Group (GIG), a company owned by financial services group Macquarie, is investing an unspecified sum into esVolta, a US-headquartered developer and owner of utility-scale energy storage projects.
UK energy storage solutions provider Zenobe Energy is targeting an additional 500MWh of storage and 1,000 electric buses following a £150 million (US$198.94 million) investment the infrastructure equity investment arm of investment manager M&G.
Venture capital (VC) funding in battery storage companies in the third quarter of 2020 was up 78% on the previous quarter, while total corporate funding in the sector for the first nine months of the year rose by 62% compared to the same period in 2019.
Northvolt has now raised in excess of US$3.5 billion of financing towards its aim of establishing 150GWh of advanced battery manufacturing facilities in Europe by 2030.
Communities most likely to be affected by both the effects of and the response to devastating wildfires which have wreaked havoc on California will be given extra incentive to install solar-plus-storage at their properties.
One of the UK’s first stock exchange-listed energy storage funds has entered into agreements to acquire a 160MW portfolio of battery storage projects in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.
