A dark green battery energy storage system, outside, under a blue sky
Harmony Energy Income Trust is debating selling off parts of its BESS portfolio. Image: Harmony Energy

Harmony Energy Income Trust (HEIT) has cancelled its first quarter dividend and appointed JLL to sell some or all of its BESS portfolio, partly to demonstrate that the fund is undervalued by the markets.

Despite a 48% quarter-on-quarter increase in revenues in the three months to 30 April, the firm has now engaged JLL to “seek offers for some or all of the company’s assets, in order to maximise value and demonstrate the continuing disconnect with the share price,” it said yesterday (30 May). Its share price is down 57% compared to a year ago.

The fund, which is managed by developer Harmony Energy and trades as HEIT, has five operational UK battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, with three more set to be commissioned this year, all in all totalling 395.4MW/790MWh. Those include the two joint-largest operational systems in the UK and Europe, Pillswood and Bumpers at 198MWh each.

This latest financial pessimism may or may not come as a surprise. Despite earlier financial reports noting a drop in BESS revenues in 2023, HEIT declared in February 2024 that it could generate “attractive returns” this year, and added that “independent market experts expect trading conditions to improve throughout 2024”. Meanwhile, HEIT has scrapped plans to pay first-quarter dividends and does not anticipate being able to pay a dividend for the remainder of the current financial year.

The news comes just months after Harmony Energy secured a £10 million credit facility from sustainable bank Triodos to accelerate the developer’s 11GW pipeline across Europe.

HEIT’s three pending BESS projects – Rusholme, Wormald Green and Hawthorn Pit – have also had their commercial operation dates (COD) pushed back to Q3 2024, the first because of minor delays to a distribution network operator’s (DNO) connection programme, and the other two because of balance of plant (BOP) contractor delays.

This article first appeared on our sister site Energy Storage News.