LAW firm TLT has advised Santander UK on its £60 million non-recourse debt facility advanced to the UK’s leading owner and operator of battery storage, Zenobē Energy Limited. The most recent round of funding will support the construction and operation of an additional in front of the meter battery storage project, which is anticipated to be the largest in Scotland and the first transmission connected battery in the country.
The project will be located in Wishaw, Lanarkshire with a capacity of 50MW/100MWh, and will be the first of its kind to ease constraints directly from the transmission network. TLT’s banking team led on the original pioneering facility set up between Zenobē and Santander UK in 2019, to which the additional battery storage project acceded as part of this latest transaction. With the addition of Wishaw, Santander UK is now supporting a portfolio of six of Zenobē’s projects.
The TLT team advising Santander UK on the deal was led by banking partner Gary Roscoe, alongside Emily Huish, Oliver Coad and Becky Panton (banking), and Nick Shenken (real estate).
Gary Roscoe, partner at UK law firm TLT, commented: “We’re delighted to be continuing our work with Santander UK, supporting them as they grow their energy storage portfolio in the UK.
“Conversations in recent months have increasingly focussed on energy security, and the role that clean generation and storage can play in that. That interest builds on what was an already identifiable investor interest in UK energy storage facilities. The addition of this new facility, shortly after Zenobē’s construction and commissioning of the largest battery storage site in Europe, is yet further evidence of a thriving industry”.
Mark Cumbo, director, specialised & project finance, Santander UK, said: “We are pleased to partner again with TLT on another significant transaction. We are grateful for TLT’s support, which has assisted us in providing Zenobē with funding for its latest battery storage facility in Wishaw, following the finance we provided it last year to support construction of its flagship battery at Capenhurst. Santander UK strongly supports clients such as Zenobē that are bringing positive environmental change to the UK’s energy sector.”
James Basden, Co-founder and Director of Zenobē, says: “This project demonstrates real innovation. Scotland is leading the world in its move to renewable energy and Zenobē is proud to be providing the critical infrastructure needed for the country’s clean energy transition. The battery at Wishaw is the first of a series of major battery flexibility projects by Zenobē and part of the c. £500 million we intend to invest in Scotland in the next five years.”
As part of this portfolio in 2021, TLT also supported Santander UK on the multi-million pound funding of the construction and operation of a 100MW battery in Cheshire, which will be the largest battery connected to a transmission system in Europe, when commissioned.
