TIDMGSF
RNS Number : 8778T
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC
30 March 2021
30 March 2021
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc
(the 'Company' or 'Gore Street')
Doubling of Operational Assets,
Portfolio Update and Revolving Credit Facility
Following on its recent announcement of increased NAV, Gore
Street, London's first listed energy storage fund, today announces
several growth milestones on its portfolio. These include the
doubling of the Company's operational assets to 210MW ,
accelerating construction and increased capacity on its Irish
assets and securing a Revolving Credit Facility (the "RCF") with
Santander Financial Services plc ("Santander").
Northern Ireland Now Operational
The Company's two Northern Ireland sites, Mullavilly and Drumkee
(the "NI sites"), are now complete and generating revenue from
today onwards. Despite COVID-19, the two 50MW projects were
completed on budget and in time to capture the earliest possible
window to start earning revenues under the Northern Ireland DS3
contracts.
The two 50MW NI Assets are due to start operations under the
lucrative DS3 contracts today. This additional 100MW across the two
sites almost doubles Gore Street's operational portfolio, now
comprising 210MW of operational capacity across 11 projects in
Great Britain and Ireland. This is expected to more than double
operational cash flow from the consolidated portfolio.
As previously guided on 17 November 2020, the DS3 contracts
available for these two assets have attractive return profiles,
likely to be considerably higher than the Company's 10% unlevered
IRR target for portfolio assets. The Company's investment adviser
understands that these are now the largest assets in operation in
Northern Ireland.
Republic of Ireland Capacity Increase and Construction
Update
As previously announced, the Company's Porterstown project has
recently successfully contracted Fluence for a fully wrapped
construction of the battery system and has secured an option to
expand its capacity from 30MW to 90MW. Following an update from
Eirgrid, phase one (30MW) is now expected to be commissioned in Q1
2022 and phase two (60MW) will follow in due course.
In line with this expansion, the Company is pleased to report
that Kilmannock, the Company's other ROI asset in construction, has
an equally significant expansion proposal, from 30MW to a potential
90MW, which is currently going through an application process. Gore
Street is engaging with stakeholders to secure a streamlined
construction schedule with a definitive connection date to be
confirmed.
Investment Pipeline
The Company's pipeline of new investment opportunities continues
to grow and now amounts to over 1.3GW in attractive opportunities
in the UK and Internationally. Therefore, as disclosed on 8 March
2021 the Company is considering - utilising its placing programme
to capitalise on these opportunities and looks forward to further
updating investors as appropriate.
Revolving Credit Facility
Additionally, Gore Street has secured a GBP15m revolving credit
facility ("RCF") with Santander to support the continued growth of
the Company. The RCF, which can be increased in line with portfolio
growth, will enable Gore Street to finance the construction of
existing projects and to purchase new grid scale battery storage
projects from the Company's considerable market leading investment
pipeline.
Alex O'Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, the Company's
investment adviser commented:
"We are particularly pleased with the progress at our NI assets;
these are now the largest of their kind operating on the Northern
Irish grid and Gore Street is one of the few site owners to
successfully secure lucrative DS3 contracts. This is recognised as
one of the world's most advanced grid balancing contracts and we
are delighted to have attained a leading role in the service
through a competitive auction. The fact that Gore Street's NI
assets are two of the few assets to have secured the 1 April 2021
gate clearly demonstrates Gore Street Capital's expertise in
delivering for our shareholders in this rapidly maturing asset
class, where proven experience is instrumental for optimising
performance. With the additional operational cashflow from this
100MW, Gore Street reiterates its earnings expectation to more than
double its expected consolidated operational cash flow .
The GBP15m facility RCF from Santander demonstrates a further
recognition of the Company's continuing leadership in the asset
class and the increasing maturity of the energy storage sector. It
will support our growth ambitions and will be used to optimise the
capital structure of the Company.
The increasingly attractive capacity auctions in which the
Company can play a leading role, reflect the ongoing placement of
investment in the sector as a key priority for national
infrastructure. Gore Street is ideally positioned to capitalise on
this ongoing critical energy transition and is delighted to be
contributing towards Ireland's climate change goals and creating a
low carbon economy.
Our pipeline is as attractive as it has ever been at this
critical time for energy storage investment and we are keen to
continue to execute accretive acquisitions for our shareholders in
the near term."
Ioana Bozan, Director, Specialised & Project Finance,
Santander, said:
"We are delighted to have closed this bespoke debt facility and
cement our relationship with Gore Street. The RCF represents a
landmark transaction, demonstrating Santander UK's capabilities in
the net asset value (NAV) lending space and as a leading lender for
battery storage projects, while enabling Gore Street to continue to
grow the business and deliver on their strategy. It has been a
pleasure for us to work with Gore Street's established, rigorous
and ambitious management team to deliver a flexible funding
solution and unlock growth opportunities in a key sector for
Renewable Energy.
Santander's deal team and our specialist Energy and
Sustainability Relationship banking team, led by Rakesh Ramana are
looking forward to developing further the relationship with Gore
Street on future projects and positively contributing to the wider
climate change agenda."
The Legal Entity Identifier of the Company is
213800GPUNVGG81G4O21.
For further information:
Gore Street Capital Limited
Alex O'Cinneide / Paula Travesso Tel: +44 (0) 20 3826 0290
Shore Capital (Joint Broker)
Anita Ghanekar / Hugo Masefield (Corporate Advisory) Tel: +44 (0) 20 7601 6128
Henry Willcocks / Fiona Conroy (Corporate Broking)
J. P. Morgan Cazenove (Joint Broker)
William Simmonds / Jérémie Birnbaum Tel: +44 (0) 20 7742
(Corporate Finance) 4000
Buchanan (Media enquiries)
Charles Ryland / Henry Wilson / George Beale Tel: +44 (0) 20
7466 5000
Email: Gorestreet@buchanan.uk.com
JTC (UK) Limited, Company Secretary Tel: +44 (0) 20 7409
0181
Notes to Editors
About Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc
Gore Street is London's first listed energy storage fund and
seeks to provide Shareholders with a significant opportunity to
invest in a diversified portfolio of utility scale energy storage
projects. In addition to growth through exploiting its considerable
pipeline, the Company aims to deliver consistent and robust
dividend yield as income distributions to its Shareholders.
The Company targets an annual dividend of 7.0% o f NAV per
Ordinary Share in each financial year, subject to a minimum target
of 7.0 pence per Ordinary Share. Dividends are paid quarterly.
Disclaimer
This announcement has been issued by, and is the sole
responsibility of, Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc (the
"Company").
This announcement is for information purposes only and is not
intended to and does not constitute or form part of any offer or
invitation to purchase or subscribe for, or any solicitation to
purchase or subscribe for shares in any jurisdiction in which such
an offer or solicitation is unlawful.
The information and opinions contained in this announcement are
provided as at the date of the announcement and are subject to
change without notice and no representation or warranty, express or
implied, is or will be made in relation to the accuracy or
completeness of the information contained herein.
The information in this announcement may include forward-looking
statements, which are based on the current expectations, intentions
and projections about future events and trends or other matters
that are not historical facts and in certain cases can be
identified by the use of terms such as "may", "will", "should",
"could", "expect", "anticipate", "project", "estimate", "intend",
"continue", "target", "believe" (or the negatives thereof) or other
variations thereof or comparable terminology. These forward-looking
statements, as well as those included in any related materials, are
not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and
unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions about the Company and
other factors, including, among other things, the development of
its business, trends in its industry, and future capital
expenditures and acquisitions. In light of these risks,
uncertainties and assumptions, the events in the forward-looking
statements may not occur and actual results may differ materially
from those expressed or implied by such forward looking statements.
Given these risks and uncertainties, prospective investors are
cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking
statements.
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