Amber Infrastructure Group (“Amber”, “the Group”), the specialist international infrastructure investment manager, is pleased to announce it has broken ground at the site of its utility-scale battery energy storage project (“the Project”) in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire. The project will deploy Megapack, Tesla’s large-scale lithium-ion battery technology, and is due to be fully operational by the end of 2022.
Amber has been responsible for the Project development and funding, including the arrangement of a bespoke co-investment. Tesla’s autonomous trading platform, Autobidder, will optimise the battery to support highly flexible energy trading capabilities across a variety of electricity markets, while providing grid balancing services to system operators.
The ground break reflects broader efforts to develop technologies and storage facilities to support the UK’s shift towards an electricity grid operating at net zero by 2050. Batteries will be a key tool to realising these ambitions, owing to their fast-acting and flexible energy input/output, which is well suited to managing intermittent renewable energy production.
The initial anticipated capacity for the Project is 50MW/100MWh. Amber and Tesla expect to bring together their complementary skills on future similar project, targeting an additional 200MW/400MWh.
Giles Frost, Chairman of Amber Infrastructure Group, said: “The start of construction marks an important milestone in the development of the Skelmersdale project. It’s also a positive step towards meeting the future energy needs of the UK population in a sustainable way."
“Dealing with the intermittency of renewable energy sources is critical as countries strive to find secure ways to keep the lights on, while also aligning with broader climate objectives. Grid scale batteries provide one way of doing this and we’re proud to be at the forefront of these efforts. We look forward to extending our valuable partnership with Tesla in years to come.”
For further information:
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Amber Infrastructure Limited Erica Sibree/Amy Edwards |
+44 (0) 7557 646 499 / (0) 7827 238 355 |
Amber Infrastructure Group
Amber Infrastructure (‘Amber’) is a specialist international investment manager, focused on investment origination, asset management and fund management. With approximately €5 billion in funds under management, Amber invests across eight funds and a number of managed accounts. Amber’s core business focuses on sourcing, developing, advising, investing in and managing infrastructure assets across the public, transport, energy, digital and demographic infrastructure sectors that support the lives of people, homes and businesses internationally.
Amber is headquartered in London with offices in Europe, North America and Australia and employs over 150 infrastructure professionals.