North Yorkshire power station operator Drax Group has struck a £157.2m deal to acquire three battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.
The company has signed the agreement with Apatura for the three projects, which include two in Scotland and one in Hull. Once fully commissioned they will provide capacity totalling 260MW.
In a stock market announcement, Drax said it will pay staged payments between 2025 and 2028, reflecting construction milestones and including payments to Apatura linked to their delivery of the projects. The acquisition of the first two projects will complete this year and the third is expected to be completed in Q1 2026.
Construction on all three BESS projects is expected to start next year, with the first site operational in 2027.
Renewable energy and BESS developer Apatura, which was founded in 2014 and is responsible for Scotland’s largest energy storage pipeline, will manage the development of the project.
The sites are based in Marfleet in Hull, Neilston in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, and East Kilbride in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
The Marfleet and Neilston sites have all necessary planning permissions whilst East Kilbride has a planning application pending. Drax also has an option over a further eight sites being developed by Apatura.
Drax Group CEO, Will Gardiner said: “This acquisition is our first investment in short duration storage as part of our FlexGen portfolio, supporting UK energy security and a clean power system.
“We are looking forward to working with Apatura on the development of battery storage, which when commissioned will allow us to provide even more secure power to the country when it is needed. In combination with our long duration energy storage, flexible generation and renewable generation from biomass, we will be able to provide 4.4GW of dispatchable generation to meet demand.
“As the UK’s network increases its reliance on intermittent renewables, more dispatchable and reliable generation will be required to help keep the lights on when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining.
“Through the development of our strategy we are working to create value and growth in the short, medium and long-term, aligned to the UK’s energy needs and underpinned by strong cash generation, a disciplined approach to capital allocation and attractive returns for shareholders, significantly in excess of our weighted average cost of capital.”
