Edinburgh-based flexible energy specialist Flexitricity and Gore Street Capital, the manager of Gore Street Energy Storage Fund, London's first listed energy storage fund supporting the transition to low carbon power, have entered into an optimisation partnership for an initial 155MW of battery energy storage systems (BESS). The agreement covers six sites and extends the partnership which Flexitricity and Gore Street Capital have established in recent years.
The lithium-ion BESS sites will be monitored and dynamically optimised from Flexitricity’s 24/7 control room in Edinburgh. The assets will operate across multiple markets, including frequency response, wholesale traded power, the Balancing Mechanism and emerging flexibility services.
Flexitricity pioneered the demand side response industry in Great Britain over thirteen years ago and has added a host of grid scale and behind-the-meter battery storage projects to its ‘virtual power plant’ platform which aggregates multiple sites to provide valuable services to both customers and the grid network. Flexitricity’s contracted flexible asset portfolio is now over 800MW in capacity, including 14 battery storage sites totalling 320MW.
Gore Street Capital is the Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) for Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC (“GSF”), London’s first listed energy storage fund. Launched in 2018, GSF has grown tenfold since, as the need for grid balancing mechanisms has increased exponentially, alongside the demand from investors to access this increasingly important area of energy transition infrastructure. GSF’s international portfolio of assets includes battery storage projects across the UK, Ireland, North America and Western Europe.
Andy Lowe, CEO at Flexitricity, said: “We are delighted to have extended our partnership with Gore Street Capital. Energy storage has a vital role to play in helping the UK transition to Net Zero and rapidly decarbonise the power sector. Gore Street and Flexitricity have been early innovators in the emerging storage industry which is set to achieve extraordinary growth in coming years.
“The markets and services which energy storage can uniquely serve are going through significant and necessary change. We see great opportunities ahead for these flexible assets and the contribution they make to supporting the UK grid and enabling the increased build-out of carbon free renewables to deliver on the UK’s Net Zero ambition.”
Alex O’Cinneide, CEO at Gore Street Capital, said: “As a leading provider of flexible assets’ optimisation services, we have been very pleased with Flexitricity’s work to date and are delighted that we are able to continue our partnership with this 155MW optimisation deal.
“The transition to a low carbon economy is one of the most important challenges of our generation and would simply not be achievable without valuable partnerships as well as the products and services provided by companies such as Gore Street and Flexitricity.”