NextEnergy UK takes on 107MW/151MWh standalone BESS portfolio from Eku Energy. The deal reflects NextEnergy UK's shift in focus towards investments in the battery sector. JP Casey, Section Editor, Informa August 14, 2026 The Loudwater project completed commissioning work last week, under the ownership of Eku Energy. UK-based investment vehicle NextEnergy UK has acquired three standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) projects from Eku Energy. The 107MW/151MWh portfolio consists of three projects in southeast England: Maldon (40MW/40MWh), which is in commercial operation; and Loudwater (39MW/55MWh) and Basildon (28MW/56MWh), at which commissioning work has been completed. All three projects have Capacity Market (CM) contracts and "established routes to market", according to NextEnergy UK. The deal reflects NextEnergy UK's shift in focus towards investments in the battery sector. The company investment vehicle is owned by London-headquartered NextEnergy Capital, and was launched in 2021 with an initial investment target of £500 million for the UK solar PV and BESS sectors. However, in March, the company sold a 100MW solar PV portfolio to Atrato Onsite Energy for £46.2 million, and announced that it would aim to expand the contribution of energy storage projects to its gross asset value to 30%. Last week, the NextEnergy Group's development arm, Starlight Energy, announced that it had secured planning consent for a 240MW/960MWh BESS in Durham as it looks to expand its operational BESS portfolio. Indeed, NextEnergy UK's acquisition of the Loudwater and Basildon projects comes just eight days after they completed commissioning work. The projects, originally owned by UK-based Eku Energy, were developed by Italy-headquartered NHOA Energy. Prior to the sale of the projects to NextEnergy UK, Eku Energy noted that NHOA energy would continue to provide operations and maintenance services for both the Loudwater and Basildon projects; Energy-Storage.news has asked NextEnergy UK if it plans to continue this arrangement. "BESS will play a critical role in supporting the UK's Clean Power ambitions by providing the flexibility needed to integrate increasing levels of renewable generation onto the electricity system," said NextEnergy Capital CIO Ross Grier, making reference to the government's energy transition targets for the end of the decade, which its colleagues at Solar Power Portal heard would be challenging to achieve at its Clean Power 2030 Summit hosted in June. "This operational portfolio is well positioned to provide immediate cash generation while offering multiple opportunities for future value creation," added Grier. Section Editor, Informa Your one-stop source for solar power news in the UK Stay up-to-date with the latest developments in the solar industry Google Preferred Source Set Solar Power Portal as your 'preferred source' to get quicker access to the news you value.

UK July Roundup: Engie commissions 100MW, Fidra and Masdar FIDs, Eku buys big, consents for Aura, Starlight. By Cameron Murray, Jonathan Touriño Jacobo, Molly Green, JP Casey, Catie Owen, Shreeyashi Ojha August 5, 2026 July was a busy month for large-scale battery storage activity in the UK, with Engie commissioning a system, Masdar and Fidra hitting financial close on projects, Eku Energy buying one, project consents for Aura Power and Starlight Energy, and more. Engie starts commercial operations at 100MW BESS in Scotland. French power firm Engie has commissioned 100MW of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Scotland. Consisting of two projects located in Cathkin (near East Kilbride) and Broxburn (west of Edinburgh), each BESS site is sized at 50MW/100MWh and will deliver rapid-response grid services and support round-the-clock integration of renewables. Engie's AI-driven optimisation platform, Orus, will power the BESS projects' dynamic response to the grid. According to the utility, the 2-hour storage duration will play a critical role in balancing supply and demand by discharging the stored surplus energy to the grid when required. The start of operations at the two BESS sites brings the utility's onshore renewable energy portfolio to 242MW. The company also has 2.1GW of pumped storage hydro capacity operational in the UK. Masdar secures £97 million for 540MWh BESS projects. UAE-headquartered power firm Masdar has closed its first battery energy storage financing in the UK, part of a long-term £1 billion commitment to the market. The £97 million financing will go to projects totalling 205MW/540MWh of capacity, Masdar said today (3 August). It didn't say which institutions provided the financing. It didn't specify the projects either, but later in the announcement said that battery projects in Rochdale, Cardiff and Chesterfield are progressing through development. It commissioned its first operational battery storage project in the UK in December 2025, a 20MW/40MWh system in Stockport. Financial close for Fidra Energy's 500MW West Burton C battery energy storage system. BESS developer Fidra Energy has reached financial close on its 500MW/1.1GWh West Burton C battery energy storage system project. The Nottinghamshire project is located on the site of the former West Burton coal power station. Construction will begin later this year, Fidra said, and the project is expected to be fully operational by 2028. A group of international lenders have committed £231 million loan facilities, which combine with backing from EIG, which established Fidra Energy, and the UK's National Wealth Fund (NWF). When Fidra reached financial close on its 1.4GW/3.1GWh Thorpe Marsh BESS, the largest such project in the UK, the NWF committed up to £200 million of equity to finance the construction of both that and the West Burton C projects. It did not disclose what share of the financing will go to each. Manufacturer Sungrow will supply batteries for the project, and H&MV Engineering will be the principal designer and contractor of the 400kV grid connection, electrical scheme and for the erection and commissioning of the Sungrow battery systems. Eku Energy acquires 300MW/600MWh UK BESS from TBC Partners. BESS owner-operator Eku Energy has acquired a 300MW/600MWh battery project in Oxfordshire from TBC Partners. Construction at the Didcot project is scheduled to begin later this year, and is expected to connect to the grid in 2028. The project will connect to the Didcot Substation, south-west of the site, and the sale follows the start of National Grid's upgrade work at the substation, which included three new electrical equipment bays and three supergrid transformers. In March, Eku COO Tom Best and director of policy Rachel Rundle told its colleagues at Energy-Storage.news about the importance of reforms to Australia's National Electricity Market (NEM) to facilitate more storage deployments, and this week, Eku CFO Erin Lee described storage as an "essential part" of the UK's energy mix. Danske Commodities to optimise Cero Generation's 70MW/140MWh battery. Energy producer Cero Generation and energy trader Danske Commodities have announced the signing of an optimisation agreement for a new UK battery energy storage system (BESS). Cero Generation and its UK development partner Enso Energy have chosen Danske Commodities to optimise their 70MW/140MWh Lower Larks BESS. Lower Larks has an anticipated operational date of Q2 2027 and will be located in Bristol, England. The BESS will be colocated with the Larks Green solar project, the UK's first transmission-connected solar farm, which was completed in April 2023. Danske Commodities will optimise the BESS through a seven-year tolling agreement. For this, Danske will cover the battery's market exposure. "The 140MWh Lower Larks battery... completes the Larks Green project by adding a second battery to our operational co-located PV-BESS site," explained Tadgh Cullen, director of power markets & origination at Cero Generation. Aura Power bags consent for 4-hour battery energy storage in North Somerset. Developer and IPP Aura Power has secured planning permission for a 100MW/400MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Sandford, North Somerset. North Somerset Council gave the green light to the 4-hour Sandford BESS, which is due to connect via existing National Grid infrastructure. According to Aura Power, it will continue working with National Grid to bring forward the project's connection date through the ongoing electricity network reforms. Only BESS projects that had been given 'protected' connections will connect to the electricity grid in Great Britain before 2035. A comparable project, Zenobē's transmission-scale 200MW/800MWh Coalburn BESS, is due to connect in 2028, having been the recipient of the first formal connection offer issued by the National Energy System Operator (NESO). NextEnergy's Starlight Energy secures 240MW/960MWh BESS consent. Developer Starlight Energy has secured planning consent for a 240MW/960MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) near Stockton-on-Tees in Durham. The Thorpe Thewles BESS is the largest such project developed by Starlight in the UK, according to the developer's announcement, which it posted to LinkedIn. Starlight Energy is the developer arm of NextEnergy Group, launched in 2022. At the beginning of this year, Starlight sold a BESS it developed in Scotland to the NEUK I Fund, owned by NextEnergy Capital - the investment management business within the same group. As of April this year, Starlight Energy's global portfolio was 7GW, with 850MW solar and 250MW storage assets in the UK, where its parent company NextEnergy is based. Starlight currently operates in Canada, Greece, Italy and Romania. NextEnergy Group was behind the development of the Llanwern Solar Farm, commissioned in 2020. Having established Starlight Energy through internal reassignment, the developer now counts the project, at one point the largest solar farm in the UK, as part of its portfolio. 13 October 2026 London, UK Now in its second edition, the Summit provides a dedicated platform for UK & Ireland's BESS community to share practical insights on performance, degradation, safety, market design and optimisation strategies. As storage deployment accelerates towards 2030 targets, attendees gain the tools needed to enhance returns and operate resilient, efficient assets.