Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, the UK’s largest operational utility-scale battery storage fund, has leased 14 large-scale batteries to electricity provider Octopus Energy.
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, which owns about 20% of the UK battery storage market, has agreed for around 50% of its batteries to be connected to Octopus Energy’s technology platform Kraken.
Kraken will charge the batteries when renewable energy is abundant and discharge them when the national grid is under stress. The 14 batteries being leased can store more than 900MWh of renewable energy – enough to power 1m homes for an hour.
Ben Guest, fund manager of Gresham House Energy Storage Fund and MD of Gresham House New Energy, said: “These new contracts with Octopus Energy secure revenues which are above those currently being achieved in the national market, demonstrating the value batteries can provide in balancing supply and demand for retail and wholesale market players.”
Kieron Stopforth, head of flexibility at Octopus Energy, said: “Every year, the UK loses hundreds of gigawatt-hours of clean energy because our system isn’t flexible enough to keep it – plus have to pay for this senseless waste.
“Batteries unlock the clean and cheap energy system, storing green energy when it’s plentiful and providing it back to the grid when energy is expensive – and work even better with brilliant tech to manage that optimisation.
“Through this landmark deal with Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, we’re not only increasing the size of our virtual power plant to over 1.5GW, we’re also unlocking the power of flexibility, aiming to drive down grid costs.”
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