Gresham House, an asset manager, has acquired two fully permitted solar and battery energy storage projects from Canadian Solar, a vertically integrated manufacturer of silicon ingots, wafers, and PV cells and modules.
The two projects comprise a collocated solar and battery energy storage project in Durham, with 50 MW solar capacity and 38 MW (or 76 MWh) of battery energy storage, and a standalone solar project in Warwickshire of 28 MWp.
Both companies aim to prioritize collocated renewable projects, where the solar PV and battery energy storage plants are built together and share the same grid connection infrastructure.
The project in Durham is Canadian Solar’s first collocated solar PV and battery energy storage project in the U.K. It represents the second collocated solar and battery energy storage project acquired by Gresham House.
Canadian Solar will continue to be involved in the projects, responsible for the long-term operations and maintenance activities.
“Our decision to sell the two projects before construction is primarily aimed at obtaining immediate market recognition and it does not preclude Canadian Solar from building, alone or in partnerships, the next projects developed in the UK or in EMEA. We are pleased to partner with Gresham House, whose undisputed position as the UK’s leading investor in battery energy storage certifies the strong appreciation of our project development and O&M capabilities, strengthening our position and strategy in the UK,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Canadian Solar’s Chairman and CEO.
“We are excited by the opportunity to expand our portfolio of subsidy-free renewables and to secure further collocated solar and battery energy storage assets. Gresham House is a long-established investor in both renewables and battery energy storage, and we believe in the strong economic case for collocating the technologies on the same site. This reflects a UK-wide requirement for more renewables capacity and for battery energy storage to support the grid system as further intermittent renewable generation is added,” said Peter Bolton, Investment Director, Renewable Energy at Gresham House.
Canadian Solar recently signed an agreement with SPIC Brasil, a power generation company in Brazil, to sell a 70% stake in 738 MW of solar projects in Brazil. Upon completion, the projects generate clean electricity equivalent to powering over 900,000 households in Brazil annually.
According to the recently released Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2022 solar report, in 1H 2022, there were 148 project acquisitions for 38 GW of solar projects compared to 136 project acquisitions totaling 40 GW in 1H 2021.
