Gore Street makes 50MW acquisition following £2.9m JXTG investment

Gore Street Energy Storage Fund has sealed the deal to acquire a 100% interest in a 50MW energy storage system in Scotland.

The Ferrymuir Energy Storage Limited project has been acquired from a group of investors comprising Abbey Properties, Yoogen and Intelligent Land Investments. Located in Fife, the site has all land rights, grid connections and planning consent secured.

Gore Street will arrange and manage construction of the system, with a scheduled operational date of 2022.

Alex O’Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, said: “The project is our first in Scotland, a very attractive market for energy storage, and adds to a portfolio diversified in markets, assets and counter parties. We are proud to be part of the transition to a low carbon economy, and at the forefront of energy storage as an asset class”.

It follows the energy storage fund unveiling JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation – Japan’s largest petroleum company – as its new strategic investor. JXTG has subscribed for £2.9 million in shares, with Gore Street also announcing it is proposing a new issue of Ordinary Shares at a price of 96.1 pence per share.

The investment is a “key part of JXTG’s long-term strategy to diversify from oil and broaden its range of power sources” in order to reduce the carbon footprint.

In April, JXTG made a move into electric vehicle charging with an investment into charging platform Virta, as well as signing a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation.

O’Cinneide said the investment into Gore Street from JXTG provides “the basis for what we expect to be a long-term collaboration between Gore Street and JXTG”.

Gore Street – which was the first energy storage fund to be listed on the London Stock Exchange – now has a 239MW portfolio, as well as the 140MW GB storage pipeline in Scotland, inluding the 50MW Fife site.

The company has also secured exclusivity on a new 20MW asset near London, which is undergoing due diligence with a view to acquisition in the near term, it said. In total, the company has an additional 900MW in exclusivity and/or pipeline.

In February, Gore Street raised £3.5 million to pursue portfolios in the UK and internationally, issuing 3,615,986 ordinary shares priced at 95.5p per share at that time.

However, in April it announced it had suspended construction on its new assets. In the same announcement, it said work on its 10MW Lower Road project had completed, with the asset operating using Origami’s technology platform and using NEC Energy Solutions and Nippon Koei supplied equipment and systems.

Following NEC releasing a statement that it is to “wind down operations”, Gore Street confirmed it was not expecting this to have any impact on its own established operations or development projects.