Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC (LSE:GSF) has acquired a 57MW construction-ready energy storage project in Leicester, England.
The Leicester project is scheduled to come online in 2023 – the project already has in place all land rights, grid connections and planning consents. The project is expected to have some £22mln of capex over the next 12 to 18 months.
"This UK acquisition is a further significant development for the company, which offers opportunities for value creation as construction progresses and once operational, will be accretive to our income generating assets,” said chief executive Alex O'Cinneide. “This is another example of Gore Street's preeminent position in the development of the energy storage market where we have continually been a first mover at scale to the benefit of our shareholders.”
Gore Street now has some 577 megawatts of capacity either under operation or in development and its current financial resources are now largely committed, though it will now seek to raise new funds through a share sale to allow the company to take advantage of its deep and growing pipeline of opportunities.
A placing seeks to issue 67.8mln new shares priced at 107p, a 7.8% discount to Friday’s closing price.
It is being run by brokers Shore Capital and JP Morgan Cazenove and is open immediately.
O'Cinneide added: “The proposed placing and retail offer will progress our ambitious portfolio growth plans and we look forward to leveraging our experience and proven capital discipline, to find the best opportunities to generate further shareholder value following the rapid and successful deployment of a significant portion of the £135mln raised in April 2021."