London team advises Gore Street on 200MW battery storage project acquisition

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (Gore Street) on its acquisition of a 200MW battery storage project from Kona Energy.

The construction-ready project is one of the largest battery storage projects in Europe and is Gore Street’s largest acquisition to date. The site in Heysham, North West England is located near the landing point of six offshore wind farms and will support Gore Street’s mission to integrate greater levels of renewable generation using energy storage. 

Gore Street is London’s first listed energy storage fund, which aims to provide its shareholders with investment opportunities in a diversified portfolio of utility scale energy storage projects. With this acquisition, its battery energy storage system portfolio will consist of 25 operational or under construction projects, with a total capacity of 898MW, in the UK, Ireland, Germany and the US.

The project is expected to connect to National Grid's main transmission network no later than Q4 2026.

Corporate partner Stephen Rigby, who led the Norton Rose Fulbright team, commented: “It was a privilege to advise Gore Street on its largest acquisition to date. We have worked on many of the offshore wind farms in the Irish Sea over the last ten years and more, and it is particularly satisfying to be able to work with Gore Street on a project which is going to increase the utilisation of the power being generated by those wind farms. Increasing the utilisation of renewable power is an important part of the energy transition and projects like this are essential in order to help the UK reach net zero.”

Alex O’Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital Limited, commented: “With the acquisition of this landmark 200MW transmission-connected project from Kona Energy, our largest acquisition yet, the Company has further strengthened its leadership position in the GB market. We are encouraged that an asset of this scale will benefit from being connected to the main transmission network, providing attractive running cost savings and potential additional revenue streams. We remain very selective on new acquisition opportunities focusing on those, such as this project, with significant cost and revenue advantages.”

The Norton Rose Fulbright corporate team also included senior associate Alex Wills, associates Tom Maturi and Alex Stewart-Moreno and trainee Emily Bailey. They were assisted by partner Matt Hodkin and associate Daniel Alexander (tax), partner Charlie Pinkerton, senior associate Peter Cole and associate Peter Lewis (real estate and planning), and partner Rob Marsh and associate Charlie Winch (projects/grid).