ABL appointed lender’s technical adviser to UK BESS portfolio
International energy and renewables consultancy, ABL Group, has been appointed by Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) to provide lender’s technical advisory services with respect to the debt financing by Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, of a portfolio of BESS projects in the UK.
Two of the battery energy storage system (BESS) projects are in Essex and the third in West Sussex, UK.
ABL’s scope of work covers two phases. Phase 1 consists of a full technical due diligence including a desktop review of the sites, a review of plant designs, contracts, the operational concepts and route-to-market, as well as grid connections, planning approvals and a review of the financial model. The Phase 2 scope includes construction and operational monitoring, including the certification of key project milestones.
The Contego project is a 34 MW / 68 MWh BESS facility located in West Sussex, UK. The project has been operational since September 2021 and is currently top of the Modo Energy Leaderboard for revenue performance.
The two Essex-based projects – Clay Tye 1 and Clay Tye 2 – are located adjacent to each other and are being constructed simultaneously. Both phases consist of 49.5 MW / 99 MWh systems, with separate grid connections. The two projects are in the late stages of construction, with a target commercial operation date of the end of first quarter 2023.
Tesla has been awarded the EPC (engineering, procurement construction) contract for provision of the battery energy storage systems to the three sites.
“ABL Group has strong expertise in the battery energy storage space, and we are delighted to support FRV and Natixis for these exciting projects. There have not been many debt finance deals in the BESS arena so far, and we see huge potential for this to increase in coming years as confidence levels around storage race forwards. Overall this is a strong sign of the maturity of the market and we look forward to working with the FRV and Natixis teams going forwards,” says Aimee Besant, energy storage lead at ABL Group.
ABL Group is an independent energy and marine consultancy which provides a range of technical services across renewable energy for onshore wind, offshore wind, solar, energy storage and hydrogen projects and investments for developers, investors and lenders in most global markets. The company offers project development services, technical due diligence and owner’s engineering to the renewables sector.
