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A Leeds-based infrastructure bank has announced plans to invest up to £265 million in energy storage development in the UK, in partnership with British Gas owner Centrica Plc.
The money will be spread across two investment funds to accelerate the development and deployment of energy storage technologies, as part of a bid to facilitate the country’s transition to a “cleaner, greener and more resilient” electricity network.
In a statement, Centrica said: “The Bank will invest £75 million on a match funding basis into the Gresham House Secure Income Renewable Energy & Storage LP (SIRES) alongside a £65 million investment from Centrica.”
Centrica said it was the Bank’s first investment in electricity storage, and “could facilitate around 1300 jobs and will unlock at least a further £200 million in match-funded private sector capital.”
UK Infrastructure Bank has also committed to investing £125 million of match funding into Equitix UK Electricity Storage Fund – an infrastructure specialist asset manager.
The proposed investment will support the development of new energy storage, as part of the Bank’s aim to pioneer new ways to fund and increase the nation’s storage capacity.
John Flint, CEO of UK Infrastructure Bank said: “Increasing electricity storage capacity will help secure energy supply in the future and drive us along the path to net zero. We are making progress as a nation, but we need much more investment to meet necessary targets, and the clock is ticking.
“The Bank’s investment into these new funds will help break down the barriers to greater, long-term investment across a range of storage sector and renewable energy opportunities.”
National Grid forecasts show that up to 29 GW of total storage may be needed by 2030 and up to 51 GW by 2050. This represents an increase from the 5 GW currently available.
Securing enough storage capacity for the UK electricity network is vital to ensure the transition away from fossil fuels is affordable, secure and delivers the emissions reductions required to achieve net zero across the UK by 2050.
According to the Bank, the investment could be used to fund both short-duration solutions like household and commercial battery storage systems, as well as long-duration technologies like “pumped-hydro”, a type of energy storage that uses water reservoirs at different elevations to generate and store electricity.
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