After £220 million financing raise to fund its 400/800 MW battery energy storage project in Eccles, Zenobē investment in Scotland reaches the £750 million mark – one of the largest BESS investments in all of Europe (so far).
The funding for the 400/800 MW site was provided by a group of lenders organized by National Westminster Bank and KKR Capital Markets Partners LLP. The Eccles BESS project is the final part of the development firm’s £750 million total investment in Scotland.
Other Scottish Zenobē projects include Blackhillock BESS, a 200 MW/400 MWh project located near Inverness that recently began commercial operations and is set to expand to 300 MW/600 MW later this year. The Blackhillock site is currently the largest operational BESS project in Europe, and also the first transmission connected battery system in the world to deliver stability services to the National Energy System Operator (NESO), and was also the first project delivered under the Network Options Assessment (NOA) Stability Pathfinder programme.
“Whilst the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has been engaging positively with the sector, we need to move faster,” explains James Basden, co-founder and director of Zenobē. “It is vital that NESO, Ofgem and the government work together to update Britain’s energy market to treat batteries fairly. A modernized approach will ensure that the entire BESS industry can continue to build and invest in Britain at speed.”
Zenobē’s 300 MW/600 MW Kilamarnoch South battery project is set to go live in 2026, and will operate alongside Zenobē’s 50 MW/100 MWh Wishaw BESS, which is currently operational. Together, the projects offer a total energy capacity over 1 GW.
Electrek’s Take
Here in the US, Zenobē is best known as a sort of 3PL, operating school bus fleets in several school districts throughout the country. There’s more to them though – between developing utility-scale BESS projects and Second Life solutions for EV batteries, the company is doing a great job helping other companies achieve their ESG goals.
As the company continues to expand throughout Europe, Australia, and SE Asia (and, of course, North America) there will surely be more to come. Watch this space.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Zenobē; via Solar Power Portal.
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