Source - LSE Regulatory
RNS Number : 7741L
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund
24 April 2024
 

NOT FOR RELEASE, DISTRIBUTION OR PUBLICATION, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, TO U.S. PERSONS OR IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, AUSTRALIA, THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA OR JAPAN OR THEIR RESPECTIVE TERRITORIES OR POSSESSIONS, OR INTO ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE IT IS UNLAWFUL TO DISTRIBUTE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED HEREIN DOES NOT CONSTITUTE OR FORM PART OF ANY OFFER TO ISSUE OR SELL, OR ANY SOLICITATION OF ANY OFFER TO SUBSCRIBE OR PURCHASE, ANY INVESTMENTS IN ANY JURISDICTION.

24 April 2024

 

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc

("GRID" or the "Company")

 

BESS portfolio revenue update

 

Following its recent trading update on 18 April 2024, Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc (LSE: GRID), the UK's largest fund investing in utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS), is pleased to share a further supplemental update on recent BESS portfolio revenue performance.

 

After a challenging start to the year for the BESS market, the Company has seen a meaningful improvement in the revenues of its underlying BESS portfolio from March 2024.

 

Month

BESS portfolio revenue*
(unaudited and rounded to nearest £100/MW/yr)

Fully operational BESS portfolio revenue**
(unaudited and rounded to nearest £100/MW/yr)

January 2024

£40,000/MW/yr

£43,800/MW/yr

February 2024

£37,100/MW/yr

£39,500/MW/yr

March 2024

£47,400/MW/yr

£52,600/MW/yr

1 - 15 April 2024

£71,100/MW/yr

£77,900/MW/yr

* BESS portfolio revenue includes all assets which were operational in the period. This includes assets which were in construction, extended commissioning and offline for augmentation works.

** Fully operational BESS portfolio category excludes assets in construction, going through extended commissioning or offline for duration increase works during the period in review. The assets excluded are West Didsbury, Arbroath, Enderby and Nevendon.

 

Portfolio revenues include Capacity Market revenues and reflect an operational portfolio with a weighted average duration of c.1.2 hours. The duration for the operational portfolio is projected to increase to c.1.6 hours by the end of 2024. Grendon, the portfolio's only operational 2-hour project currently, has outperformed the other portfolio assets, as well as other 2-hour projects in the market for which there is publicly available information, on a £ per MW basis.

 

49% of the operational BESS portfolio is not registered in the Balancing Mechanism (BM) today and has outperformed the BM registered portion of the portfolio. Performance of non-BM assets is not publicly available and so does not appear on market "leaderboards". BM registered assets have publicly available information disclosed relating to BM trades (but not wholesale market trades) which is published by Elexon.

 

The Manager believes that, in due course, the revenue opportunity in the BM may be more attractive as reductions in previously mentioned 'skip rates' come down as the Electricity System Operator's (ESO) Balancing Programme is concluded. As such, the Manager will continue to monitor performance of its non-BM and BM registered assets and may register more projects in the BM as value emerges.

 

Revenues since 11 March 2024 have improved due to:

1)   The launch of Balancing Reserve (BR), a new reserve product which has launched initially with a small volume of 400MW. Reserve requirements in Great Britain are for several gigawatts (GW) every day and this level will grow as renewable generation increases (as this drives up the volatility of supply). As the ESO launches a new suite of reserve products through 2024, including Quick Reserve (QR) in summer 2024, we expect to see the Reserve volume that BESS can compete for increase.

2)   The ESO changing the '15-minute rule' for BESS, whereby the maximum duration of any BESS trade in the BM was limited to 15 minutes, to a '30-minute rule'. This change was required to deliver BR but is also leading to a greater use of BESS assets, although to date it has not led to a meaningful reduction in skip rates.

3)   Improvements in wholesale markets, driven largely by a return of negative prices. This has led to increased trading spreads and the return of a second cycle opportunity in most days. Flat daytime prices over the winter mostly limited BESS assets to lower cycling. The rise of solar generation in warmer months means negative prices in the middle of the day, as well as overnight, creates two distinct trading cycles, in turn leading to improved revenue opportunities. Negative prices occur when renewable generation needs to be curtailed. Through mid-April 2024, GB has experienced more than three times the number of negative prices than at the same point in any of the prior four years. The trend of increasing negative prices is expected to continue as renewable penetration increases.

 

In summary, merchant revenues are inherently volatile, and the portfolio will experience periods of higher and lower revenues. The Company is pleased to see the recovery in trading opportunity since March 2024 and is encouraged by the progress being made by the ESO through its Balancing Programme to drive further utilisation of BESS assets. Whilst recent revenue improvements are promising, overall revenues remain below long-term third-party forecasts and the Company anticipates further recovery as the ESO progresses through its Balancing Programme in 2024 and 2025.

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Gresham House New Energy

Ben Guest

James Bustin

 

+44 (0) 20 3837 6270

Jefferies International Limited

Stuart Klein

Gaudi Le Roux

Harry Randall

 

+44 (0) 20 7029 8000

KL Communications

Charles Gorman

Charlotte Francis

Effie Aye-Maung-Hider

 

gh@kl-communications.com

+44 (0) 20 3882 6644

JTC (UK) Limited as Company Secretary

Christopher Gibbons

 

GHEnergyStorageCoSec@jtcgroup.com

+44 (0) 20 7409 0181

 

About the Company and the Manager:

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc seeks to provide investors with an attractive and sustainable dividend over the long term by investing in a diversified portfolio of utility-scale battery energy storage systems (known as BESS) located in Great Britain and internationally. In addition, the Company seeks to provide investors with the prospect of capital growth through the re-investment of net cash generated in excess of the target dividend in accordance with the Company's investment policy.

The Company targets an unlevered Net Asset Value total return of 8% per annum and a levered Net Asset Value total return of 15% per annum, in each case calculated net of the Company's costs and expenses.

Gresham House Asset Management Ltd is the FCA authorised operating business of Gresham House Ltd, a specialist alternative asset manager. Gresham House is committed to operating responsibly and sustainably, taking the long view in delivering sustainable investment solutions.

www.greshamhouse.com

Definition of utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS)

Utility-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) are the enabling infrastructure that will support the continued growth of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, essential to the UK's stated target to reduce carbon emissions. They store excess energy generated by renewable energy sources and then release that stored energy back into the grid during peak hours when there is increased demand.

 

DISCLAIMERS

This announcement has been prepared for information purposes only. This announcement does not constitute a prospectus relating to the Company and does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer  to subscribe for, any shares in the Company in any jurisdiction nor shall it, or any part of it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with or act as any inducement to enter into, any contract therefor. The merits or suitability of any securities must be independently determined by the recipient on the basis of its own investigation and evaluation of the Company. Any such determination should involve, among other things, an assessment of the legal, tax, accounting, regulatory, financial, credit and other related aspects of the securities.

This announcement may not be used in making any investment decision in isolation. This announcement on its own does not contain sufficient information to support an investment decision and investors should ensure that they obtain all available relevant information before making any investment. This announcement does not constitute or form part of and may not be construed as an offer to sell, or an invitation to purchase or otherwise acquire, investments of any description, nor as a recommendation regarding the possible offering or the provision of investment advice by any party. No information in this announcement should be construed as providing financial, investment or other professional advice and each prospective investor should consult its own legal, business, tax and other advisers in evaluating the investment opportunity. No reliance may be placed for any purposes whatsoever on this announcement or its completeness.

The information and opinions contained in this announcement are provided as at the date of the announcement and are subject to change without notice and no representation or warranty, express or implied, is or will be made in relation to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained herein and no responsibility, obligation or liability or duty (whether direct or indirect, in contract, tort or otherwise) is or will be accepted by the Company, the Manager, Jefferies or any of their affiliates or by any of their respective officers, employees or agents to update or revise publicly any of the statements contained herein. No reliance may be placed for any purpose whatsoever on the information or opinions contained in this announcement or on its completeness, accuracy or fairness. The document has not been approved by any competent regulatory or supervisory authority.

Any investment in Company is speculative, involves a high degree of risk, and could result in the loss of all or substantially all of their investment. Results can be positively or negatively affected by market conditions beyond the control of the Company or any other person. Any data on past performance contained herein is no indication as to future performance and there can be no assurance that any targeted or projected returns will be achieved or that the Company will be able to implement its investment strategy or achieve its investment objectives. Any target returns published by the Company are targets only. There is no guarantee that any such returns can be achieved or can be continued if achieved, nor that the Company will make any distributions whatsoever. There may be other additional risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause the returns generated by the Company to be materially lower than the target returns of the Company.

The information in this announcement may include forward-looking statements, which are based on the current expectations, intentions and projections about future events and trends or other matters that are not historical facts and in certain cases can be identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "anticipate", "project", "estimate", "intend", "continue", "target", "believe" (or the negatives thereof) or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements, as well as those included in any related materials, are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions about the Company and other factors, including, among other things, the development of its business, trends in its operating industry, and future capital expenditures and acquisitions. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events in the forward-looking statements may not occur and actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Jefferies International Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the United Kingdom, is acting only for the Company in connection with the matters described in this announcement and is not acting for or advising any other person, or treating any other person as its client, in relation thereto and will not be responsible for providing the regulatory protection afforded to clients of Jefferies or advice to any other person in relation to the matters contained herein. Neither Jefferies nor any of its directors, officers, employees, advisers or agents accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for this announcement, its contents or otherwise in connection with it or any other information relating to the Company, whether written, oral or in a visual or electronic format. Each of the Company, the Manager, Jefferies and their affiliates and their respective officers, employees and agents expressly disclaim any and all liability which may be based on this announcement and any errors therein or omissions therefrom.

No representation or warranty is given to the achievement or reasonableness of future projections, management targets, estimates, prospects or returns, if any. Any views contained herein are based on financial, economic, market and other conditions prevailing as at the date of this announcement. The information contained in this announcement will not be updated.

 

This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services. For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.
 
END
 
 
PFUEAFLDASKLEAA
Find out how to deal online from £1.50 in a SIPP, ISA or Dealing account. AJ Bell logo

Related Charts

Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC (GRID)

+0.50p (+1.09%)
delayed 13:30PM