TagEnergy starts building £16m UK battery storage facility

Clean energy producer TagEnergy has started construction on a £16m battery storage facility in Dorset with Tesla Energy (photo credit: Courtesy of Tesla, Inc).

Santander UK has provided TagEnergy with a £6.4m funding package to support development of Hawkers Hill Energy Park, near Shaftesbury. The 20 MW/40 MWh, two-hour front of meter facility is anticipated to connect to the electricity grid by June 2022. It will use a system of Tesla Megapack lithium-ion batteries, together with Tesla’s Autobidder AI software for real-time trading and control.

Battery storage is key to ensuring homes and businesses can be powered by renewable energy, and plays an important role in boosting the nation’s capability to capture, store and release renewable energy, providing a more reliable and regular supply. Such flexible technology systems will form part of the UK’s smarter electricity grid, supporting the integration of more low-carbon power, heat and transport technologies.

The park is the seventh battery storage facility that Santander UK has supported over the past two years, providing more than £100m of funding to the battery storage sector. This funding is part of Santander’s global target to lend €120bn in green finance to businesses throughout the world by 2025.

The package was partly financed by Santander UK’s Environmental and Social Growth Fund, which is designed to support lending that benefits the environment or society and contributes toward the UK’s sustainability agenda.

TagEnergy was formed in 2019 to accelerate the energy transition through creating competitive, clean power stations. The company is part of Impala SAS group, owned by French businessman Jacques Veyrat, and is operated by a team of manager-shareholders. Its operations span the renewables value chain, from development, financing, construction and asset management of wind, solar and storage projects, to commercialisation of its competitive energy.

European and Australian clean energy portfolio

TagEnergy has developed a portfolio of close to 2GW in Portugal, Spain, UK and Australia, based on solar, wind and battery storage technologies.

Franck Woitiez, Chief Executive Officer, TagEnergy said: “This is a pivotal moment as we enter the fast-growing UK renewable energy market and Santander UK’s support of our very first project here has been crucial. Our significant battery storage expertise means we can leverage our flexible energy supply to optimise the energy market while helping to stabilise the grid and increasing renewables’ share of it. We are excited by the prospect of delivering clean power support to the UK grid as part of our ambition to accelerate the energy transition.”

Mark Cumbo, Director, Specialised and Project Finance at Santander UK, said the construction of Hawkers Hill Energy Park marks TagEnergy’s entry into the UK battery storage facilities market and is an important step forward for the UK’s ability to produce a reliable flow of electricity from renewable sources. "Santander UK strongly supports clients such as TagEnergy that are bringing positive environmental change to the UK’s energy sector, and we are delighted to provide funding for this new battery storage facility in Dorset," he said.

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