Close Brothers Leasing provides £85m facility to Conrad Energy

Close Brothers Leasing has provided an £85m facility to Conrad Energy for 10 battery storage projects as it continues to strongly grow and diversify its Energy book. The batteries will store the over-supply of energy generated during windy and sunny weather, and release capacity when required.

The battery storage projects, one of which is already operational, and the rest being built in various locations over the coming two years in the North West, South West and South East, will vary in size from 7MW to 40MW. The lithium-ion batteries will be housed in containers sized between 1MW and 5MW.

Neil Davies, CEO, Close Brothers Commercial (pictured), said: “This is a significant facility in terms of value and strengthens the partnership we have with Conrad Energy, having funded gas peaking power plants in 2020.

“We’ve had a specialist team in place for nearly 10 years, and in that time they have provided finance for over 1,000MW* of installed generation capacity, which is only set to develop further as more and more renewable energy projects go live.”

Gareth Palmer, Head of Sales for the Energy team at Close Brothers Leasing, said: “This deal is further proof of our commitment to expanding our lending in this growing sector, which is key to the UK’s energy mix and essential in accelerating the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy.

“Battery storage systems are really beginning to come into their own and are becoming pivotal in responding to electricity demands.”

Steven Hardman, CEO, Conrad Energy, said: “Conrad Energy’s portfolio of battery storage developments provides significant stability to the grid and balances intermittent generation from renewables, increasing energy security and playing a vital role in the UK’s energy transition to a lower carbon economy.”