Battery energy storage system (BESS) developer/operator Zenobē has announced that it has successfully financed its Eccles BESS project in Scotland, in one of the biggest finance rounds in European history.
The total debt raised for the 400MW/800MWh project was £220 million, which the company says is one of the largest finance raises for a standalone BESS project ever made in Europe. The funding was provided by a group of lenders organised by National Westminster Bank and KKR Capital Markets Partners LLP. Additionally, Zenobē has announced that construction on the Eccles BESS—the company’s largest battery project to date—has begun.
The Eccles BESS is the final part of the firm’s £750 million investment in Scotland. Zenobē’s Blackhillock BESS, a 200MW/400MWh project located near Inverness, recently began commercial operations, and is set to expand to 300MW/600MW later this year.
The Blackhillock BESS, which is the largest operational BESS project in Europe according to the firm, has also become the first transmission connected battery 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.
The Stability Pathfinder programme was created to help NESO decide where investment into reinforcing the grid should be directed to support the development of services that support important system services like inertia.
Additionally, the company’s 300MW/600MW Kilamarnoch South battery project is due to go live in 2026, and both projects will operate alongside Zenobē’s 50MW/100MWh Wishaw BESS, which is now operational. These four projects have a total capacity of over 1GW.
James Basden, co-founder and director of Zenobē, added: “Whilst the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has been engaging positively with the sector, we need to move faster. It is vital that NESO, Ofgem and the government work together to update Britain’s energy market to treat batteries fairly. A modernised approach will ensure that the entire BESS industry can continue to build and invest in Britain at speed.”
