Zenobē secures its largest battery storage financing to date for Eccles 400MW
- Zenobē has secured its largest battery storage financing to date, with Scottish battery storage assets to exceed 1GW
- £220 million in long-term debt will fund a new battery storage site in Eccles, Scotland, which has now entered construction
- The funding for the 400MW/800MWh asset is a major vote of confidence in Britain’s grid-scale storage sector and green investment more broadly
18th March 2025 – London, UK
Zenobē, the battery storage and fleet electrification specialist, has today announced one of the largest standalone battery storage financings in Europe for its latest Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) project in Eccles, Scotland, which is set to go live in early 2027.
The total debt raised for the project equates to £220 million, representing Zenobē’s largest debt raise for a single battery asset. The project’s financing is being provided by a group of lenders, arranged by National Westminster Bank Plc and KKR Capital Markets Partners LLP.
The announcement of this latest funding also signifies that construction of the 400MW/800MWh site has begun. As well as Zenobē’s largest project, the project demonstrates the pace at which the battery storage sector continues to develop. The financing package is a major vote of confidence in the UK’s green economy, which according to analysis by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) grew by 10% in 2024, three times faster than the overall UK economy.
Battery storage needs to be seen as critical national infrastructure if the Government is to deliver its Clean Power 2030 mission – which aims to reduce consumer bills and boost energy security in the long term. The National Energy System Operator (NESO) has made clear the need for batteries moving forwards, with their forecasts requiring four to five times the capacity Britain currently has by 2030.
Eccles is the final phase of Zenobē’s £750m investment in Scotland, with its Blackhillock site near Inverness recently achieving commercial operations at 200MW/400MWh before expanding to 300MW/600MWh later this year. Zenobē’s 300MW/600MWh Kilmarnock South project is set to go live in 2026. These projects will operate alongside Zenobē’s 50MW/100MWh battery in Wishaw announced in March 2022. With this announcement, Zenobē’s portfolio of battery storage assets in Scotland has grown more than twenty times since Wishaw went into operation, to exceed 1GW/2GWh of storage.
With a total capacity exceeding 1GW, these four sites will provide essential grid-services to support the reliable and affordable integration of renewable power. Over the next 15 years, the Eccles battery is projected to save consumers £309 million by reducing the need to pay wind generators to switch off – known as curtailment costs – and prevent approximately 4.9 million tonnes of CO2 being emitted over 15 years.
James Basden, Co-Founder Director of Zenobē, said: “The Government has stated that its Clean Power Plan will need to unlock £40 billion of investment a year and this deal is proof that the battery storage sector is ready to deliver. But this investment is at risk.
Whilst the National Energy System Operator (NESO) has been engaging positively with the sector, we need to move faster. It is vital that NESO, Ofgem and the Government work together to update Britain’s energy market to treat batteries fairly. Without simple rule changes that reflect modern technology, future investments will dry up. A modernised approach will ensure that the entire BESS industry can continue to build and invest in Britain at speed.”
Ian Murray, Secretary of State for Scotland, said: “Today’s announcement marks a significant investment in Scotland’s renewable energy industry, demonstrating Zenobē’s commitment to establishing Scotland as a leader in this field. The Eccles battery storage site will help to drive innovation in energy storage while also playing a key role in Scotland and the UK becoming a clean energy superpower.”
Shreya Malik, Managing Director on the Infrastructure team at KKR, said: “KKR is proud to support Zenobē in reaching this important milestone, which builds on their significant contribution to advancing the UK’s net zero goals. With a portfolio exceeding 1GW, Zenobē’s battery storage projects will be essential to enhancing the reliability of renewable energy, particularly wind power, and driving the growth of Britain’s green economy. This underscores our confidence in the transformative potential of grid-scale storage solutions to deliver sustainable and resilient energy.”
Priya Veerapen, Managing Director at Infracapital, said: “The Eccles site will provide highly demanded capacity to balance the transmission grid which is a key component of the transition to renewables. Securing this funding is testament to the critical role that batteries are playing in the UK’s national infrastructure. It also represents Infracapital’s sixth and largest investment in Zenobe’s storage projects since our initial investment in 2020, now totalling over 1GW.”
Notes to editor
About Zenobē Energy Ltd. (Zenobē):
Zenobē is an EV fleet and grid-scale battery storage specialist, headquartered in the UK. The company began operations in 2017 and now employs >300 FTEs with a wide range of leading skills including electrical engineering, software development, computer sciences and financing.
Zenobē is the leading owner and operator of grid-scale batteries on the GB transmission network and is expanding into Australasia and North America. Zenobē has 1135MW of battery storage assets in operation or under construction.
Zenobē has around 25% market share of the UK EV bus sector and supports over 2,000 electric vehicles across 120 depots globally. The company is the largest owner and operator of EV buses in the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
For more information, please visit www.zenobe.com/ or follow on LinkedIn.
Sources:
“Save consumers £309 million over 15 years once operational”
The consumer savings of £309m reflects savings of £90m from the Stability Pathfinder contract and savings of £219m from providing balancing services and constraint management to the grid and helping reduce price volatility.
The £90m of savings from the Stability Pathfinder assumes that the contract secured for the Blackhillock project will avoid the use of combined-cycle gas turbines (CCGTs) to provide inertia and short circuit level (SCL). We assume CCGT efficiency of 55% and Stable Export Limit of 35%. The average gas price over the 9-10year contract length is assumed to be £40/MWh, which is conservative considering the high price outlook for gas over the next decade.
The £219m of savings from balancing services and constraint management assumes, with degradation over the lifetime considered, the battery cycles twice a day and provides a reasonable level of savings to the control room when compared to the alternative actions that would otherwise been taken. For example, curtailing wind generation during periods of network constraint or more competitively priced offer actions than gas peakers or CCGTS.
“Prevent approximately 4.9 million tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere”
The CO2 savings are benchmarked against the following:
The provision of power and/or Stability Services versus a gas peaking plant (540gCO2e/kWh) or combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) (450g CO2 e/kWh, operating at Stable Export Limit for provision of Stability Services), depending on the time of operation. The Carbon intensity of imported energy to charge the battery is assumed at the 2024 national average of 150g CO2 e/kWh This is a conservative assumption considering the high penetration of renewable generation and otherwise curtailed power in Scotland when the battery would charge.
For more information read this article > https://www.zenobe.com/insights-and-guides/zenobe-carbon-impact/
