The funding will support the growth of Zenobe’s grid-scale battery services and electric vehicle and charging infrastructure services.
Combined with debt facilities, Zenobe estimates that this will allow it to deploy around £450m in these sectors, further accelerating the use of batteries to support renewable power generation and electrification of vehicle fleets in the UK and overseas.
The funding will also enable Zenobe to support customers with at least 500 MWh of additional grid connected batteries, and up to a further 1,000 electric buses or vehicles and associated infrastructure software systems over the next 18 to 24 months.
Zenobe Energy founder director Nicholas Beatty said: “This investment by Infracapital demonstrates Zenobe’s continuing leadership in the battery sector. With our focus on innovation and provision of solutions to customers that combine our technology, operational, and financing capabilities, this investment will be crucial in allowing us to achieve our growth ambitions in the UK and abroad.”
The investment follows on from the raising of £40m of equity from private investors and the leading early-stage infrastructure investor Tiger Infrastructure Partners in 2017. This is in addition to £25m of equity from JERA Storage BV; £25m from Santander Group in 2019 as the first non-recourse debt facility against battery storage projects, and £20m in financing from NatWest Group in June 2020 to support Zenobe’s EV fleet business.
Infracapital head of greenfield Andy Matthews said: “We are delighted to announce our investment in Zenobe Energy and to play a role in delivering clean and reliable electric vehicle and battery storage solutions.
“This investment is indicative of the significant opportunity to build, deliver, and operate essential greenfield infrastructure across Europe, where we see considerable scope to deploy further funds in the coming months and years, creating long-term value for our investors.”
Zenobe is currently supporting over 100 electric buses and finalising contracts with operators to support a further 250 electric vehicles by summer 2021.
The company has 170MW of grid-scale batteries in operation or construction, which provide balancing, power, and reactive power services in the UK to National Grid and the DNOs.
The company also uses its batteries experience to provide industrial and commercial customers with services such as load shifting, storage, and off-grid operations to optimise their use of power.
