The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) is backing a London-listed energy storage fund’s proposed fundraising with a £30m (€33.9m) commitment.
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund is planning to raise up to £50m through a share issue to help construct and purchase a 160MW portfolio of energy storage assets in Ireland.
The company is buying 51% of the special purpose vehicles that own the 160MW portfolio of projects in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland from renewable energy investment company, Low Carbon, which will retain the remaining 49%.
In total, Gore Street said it will require £77m for project construction, acquisition and capital expenditure.
Gore Street said it has entered into an investment agreement with the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) – which is responsible for the €8.9bn ISIF, whereby NTMA will initially invest £5m as part of the share issue and up to £25m may be drawn down upon certain criteria being met.
NTMA’s initial subscription is also conditional on a minimum fundraise of £15m in the issue.
Alex O’Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, the company’s investment adviser, said: “NTMA is one of Europe’s major renewable infrastructure investors and this represents a strong endorsement of our investment strategy and a clear commitment to a rapidly growing renewables sector by a highly active sovereign development vehicle.
“We intend to take advantage of the large and diverse array of opportunities that we see in our pipeline in the UK, Ireland and internationally.”
O’Cinneide said the investment in the Irish projects will represent one of Europe’s largest energy storage acquisitions and one of the largest of its kind this year globally.
