In many ways, energy storage projects are no different than a typical project finance transaction. Project finance is an exercise in risk allocation. Financings will not close until all risks have been catalogued and covered. However, there are some unique features to energy storage with which investors and lenders will have to become familiar.
Investors and lenders are eager to enter into the energy storage market. In many ways, energy storage projects are no different than a typical project finance transaction. Project finance is an exercise in risk allocation. Financings will not close until all risks have been catalogued and covered.
The rapid growth in the energy storage market is similarly driving demand for project financing. The general principles of project finance that apply to the financing of solar and wind projects also apply to energy storage projects.
Since the majority of solar projects currently under construction include a storage system, lenders in the project finance markets are willing to finance the construction and cashflows of an energy storage project. However, there are certain additional considerations in structuring a project finance transaction for an energy storage project.
While financing the storage of electricity has often been carried out on a low-leveraged, corporate or portfolio basis, as the size of battery projects increases, we are now seeing more typical SPV non-recourse project finance structures, with a full security package.
Energy can be stored in a number of ways, depending on the source, but the most common is in chemical batteries. In this briefing, we look at some of the considerations for financing battery storage projects. Why chemical batteries? Chemical batteries are ideal for energy storage for a number of reasons: They are easily scalable.