Energy storage owner-operator BW ESS has inked a new debt financing deal for the Bramley battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
The Bramley BESS is a 100MW/331MWh operational BESS development located in Bramley, Hampshire, which was energised in February of this year in what Erik Strømsø, CEO of BW ESS called “a landmark moment for BW ESS’ UK rollout”.
Now, following what BW ESS has described as a “highly competitive financing process”, a finance package has been secured, with Australian bank Westpac and Singapore-based finance institution UOB each contributing half to the debt facility. The parties involved have chosen not to reveal the size of the finance package at this time.
The Bramley project benefits from a seven-year tolling agreement with Shell Energy Europe, and BW ESS claims that the BESS has continually exceeded expectations for technical and revenue performance since it was inaugurated earlier this year.
Sungrow supplied the battery units for the project, providing the firm’s 3-hour duration PowerTitan 2.0 BESS units for the Bramley BESS. This marks the second time Sungrow and BW ESS have worked together, with the two companies previously collaborating on a supply agreement for the Hams Hall energy storage project in North Warwickshire, England, a 350MW/1,750MWh BESS project funded by BW ESS.
This is the second external financing deal BW ESS has closed in quick succession; as reported by our sister site Energy Storage News, in late April, BW ESS inked a loan agreement with Nordea Bank, which will fund the firm’s 211MW Swedish energy storage portfolio.
Marc Weisser, CFO of BW ESS, called the Bramley project “a flagship asset” in the firm’s growing UK portfolio, adding that the company is “encouraged by the exceptionally high level of interest the project generated from the lending community”. Weisser went on to praise the lending partners involved in the deal, adding that both UOB and Westpac “have demonstrated a firm commitment to supporting the global rollout of strategically significant BESS projects”.
Westpac’s head of energy, infrastructure and resources, Sarah Heavey agreed, describing the project as “an important milestone in longer duration energy storage” and adding that Westpac is “delighted” to have supported BW ESS for this financing.
Currently, BW ESS has several projects under construction or development, including the 1.4GWh Hams Hall project currently in construction, a 0.7GWh development in pre-construction at Berkswell, and a development pipeline made up of five additional projects with a capacity of approximately 1GW.
The Bramley BESS is unique in a number of ways; for one, it was the first project outside of China to make use of Sungrow’s AC block technology, and it remains the longest-duration large-scale BESS in the UK, with a 3.3-hour duration.
BW ESS’ CTO Nan Jia noted in an exclusive interview with Energy-Storage.news Premium that one of the reasons the firm chose to use Sungrow’s BESS technology was the speed at which the cabinets could be installed onsite; installation took as little as one hour per BESS cabinet, and BW ESS called the units “the most installation-friendly system they experienced.”
