One of the contracts, which have awarded by Foresight on behalf of the JLEN and FSFL funds, is for a 50MW battery that will be located in Melksham, Wiltshire, adjacent to FSFL’s existing Sandridge solar park. The second will be at West Gourdie, Dundee. At just under 50MW, it will be one of the largest battery storage facilities in Scotland.
The two sites are due to be fully operational by Autumn 2022. All engineering, procurement and construction will be handled by Anesco, with the company then providing ongoing operations and maintenance services for an initial four-year period.
Anesco secured the two contracts following a competitive tender process. Anesco is already maintaining 27 solar farms, totalling more than 200MW, on behalf of Foresight Group. This includes the 50MW Sandridge solar farm, adjacent to the new Wiltshire battery facility.
Anesco’s business development director, Sarah Webb, said: “Interest in our EPC and O&M capabilities for third party assets remains high. These two sites add to our growing EPC pipeline, including 150MW of self-developed storage assets we’re set to commence construction on shortly.”
Foresight has been targeting investments into battery storage over the past 12 to 18 months, with JLEN acquiring the West Gourdie battery project in March this year, and JLEN and FSFL subsequently acquiring the Sandridge asset in May, through a 50:50 equity co-investment.
Chris Tanner, partner at Foresight, said: “Foresight, on behalf of its managed funds, continues to see opportunities in the UK storage market. The business case for such opportunities is supported by key fundamental drivers, largely driven by increasing levels of intermittent generation on the system. With the UK making legally binding commitments to achieve ‘net zero’ by 2050, these trends are only expected to increase over the long term.”
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