JLEN Environmental Assets Group announced the acquisition of Gigabox South Road (GSRL) on Wednesday, which holds the development rights to construct the West Gourdie project, a 50MW lithium-ion battery energy storage plant based in Dundee.
The FTSE 250 company said the acquisition would see JLEN invest up to £21.2m over the next 12 to 15 months.
It said the West Gourdie project was fully consented and construction ready, with the project expected to reach energisation and start commercial operations in March 2022.
JLEN explained that such storage projects provide support to the National Grid by reducing system imbalance.
The West Gourdie project would be connected to Scottish Hydro Electric Power Distribution network, with a 49.9MW import and export connection.
It said the project would provide stability to the local network either through direct provision of balancing services to the National Grid, or by reducing volatility on the system via wholesale trading in the wholesale power markets and the Balancing Mechanism, which is a tool used by the National Grid to balance supply and demand in real time .
The acquisition was JLEN’s third investment in battery storage systems, adding to the two co-located batteries that the company owns as part of its run-of-river hydro portfolio.
“We are pleased to announce the further expansion of our interests in the energy storage market with our first grid-scale battery project,” said chairman Richard Morse.
“We believe that plants such as this one, will play an important role in the decarbonisation agenda by providing balancing support to the local network and allowing for greater levels of renewable generation on the network.
“This investment should offer additional returns over time as it is structured to take advantage of increased market volatility as intermittent renewable generation facilities play a greater part in supplying green electricity to the nation.”
At 0842 GMT, shares in JLEN Environmental Assets Group were up 0.33% at 114.38p.
