UK Infrastructure Bank backs Bathgate battery producer with £25 million

The UK Infrastructure Bank has made a £25m direct equity investment into Invinity Energy Systems, a Bathgate-based manufacturer of vanadium flow batteries, to support the commercial development of longer-duration energy storage.

The financing forms the cornerstone of a £56m fundraise, which also included £3m from Korean Investment Partners through an investment fund, a placing with UK institutional investors to raise a minimum of £22m via an accelerated bookbuild, and an open offer to all qualifying shareholders to raise a further £6.6m.

The investment will support the expansion of Invinity’s footprint in Scotland, with the proposed opening of a new manufacturing site, creating up to 41 new jobs.

The fundraise is subject to the approval of the company’s shareholders at a general meeting to be held later this month.

Durable and easy to deploy at scale, Invinity’s batteries have lower levels of degradation compared to other storage technologies and do not suffer from thermal runaway, making them well suited to a broad range of grid-scale battery applications.

Vanadium flow batteries enable storage between four and 12 hours, making Invinity’s batteries suited to manage energy supply and demand volatility, with a number of advantages over more well-established lithium-ion batteries.

Larry Zulch, chief executive at Invinity Energy Systems, said: “This investment provides Invinity with the opportunity to scale up to help meet the significant global demand for batteries with the characteristics that make our vanadium flow battery unique: high performance, long asset life, compelling total ownership economics, and no propensity to catch fire.

“We are grateful for the support of the UK Infrastructure Bank as we demonstrate the viability of LDES in the UK with battery systems produced in the UK.

“We’re also grateful for the support of existing investors who enabled us to advance Mistral, our next-generation battery, to near completion, and for the support of new investors, such as Korea Investment Partners, who have embraced our vision of profitably meeting global demand for LDES.”

John Flint, chief executive of UK Infrastructure Bank, said: “Electricity storage technologies have a crucial role to play in balancing the energy system in response to volatility in supply and demand as the UK transitions to net zero.

”However, the market of investors in more nascent longer-duration technologies like vanadium flow has developed more slowly than for lithium-ion batteries.

”Our cornerstone investment has helped Invinity to mobilise the additional private investment needed to scale their manufacturing, supporting the development of a promising new longer-duration technology.”

This deal marks the bank’s third direct investment in the battery storage market, following its £60m loan to support Pacific Green in November and a £62.5m commitment to Pulse Clean Energy in May 2023.

This is in addition to a £200m commitment into the Equitix UK Electricity Storage Fund and Gresham House Secure Income Renewable Energy & Storage.

Currently, National Grid forecasts show that up to 29 GW of total storage could be needed by 2030 and up to 51 GW by 2050. This is a huge increase on the approximately 6 GW currently available and means there is a clear need to accelerate deployment of capital and investment in new storage projects.

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