Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc (LON:GRID), the UK’s largest operational utility-scale battery storage fund, has completed the acquisitions of a 35MW battery project located in North Shields, Tyne and Wear and a 10MW battery project located in Essex. This transaction follows GRID’s recent acquisitions of two 50MW projects and the 25MW Tynemouth project. The Projects are both operational battery-only sites with total export/import capacity of 45MW and both are connected to the distribution network. John Leggate, Chairman of GRID said: “As we approach our 400MW milestone, we are delighted to acquire the first two projects of the new pipeline we announced along with our £120 million fundraise in November. These latest projects boost operational capacity by a further 13%, thereby underpinning dividend cover and representing a further step in our portfolio growth ambitions”.
Biome Technologies plc (LON:BIOM) Chief Executive Officer Paul Mines caught up with DirectorsTalk to discuss their Biodegradable Tree Shelters project and video. Paul Mines noted “Biome Technologies’ business model for its bioplastic business is all about developing new bio-based and biodegradable plastics for commercial applications and many of these projects take several years.
We’ve teamed up with a UK company called Suregreen, they’re a manufacturer and supplier of high quality landscaping and horticultural products and particularly tree shelters, and with them we’re testing a new generation of environmentally-friendly biodegradable tree shelters. It’s a product that’s design to function like a conventional tree shelter for those first 4 or 5 years but then, in years 5-7 to completely break down by the bacteria in the soil naturally leaving only carbon dioxide, water and a few naturally occurring minerals.
Some 45 million trees are planted in the UK every year, mostly for commercial forestry use and the UK government has pledged to more than double that over the next few years as they try and mitigate climate change and achieve the UK’s target of being net zero by 2050. We think about 16 million of those tree shelters are left in the UK countryside every year and that’s some 2,500 tonnes of plastic ending up in the natural environment and ecosystem. With the extra tree planting that the government plans to do, this will grow over 4,000 tonnes a year of plastics being left in our environment unless we help the forestry industry change their approach to this.
We’ve already started some small-scale field trials, or ‘forest trials’, with some initial prototypes and we expect to scale that up into the thousands into a more comprehensive series of long term trials throughout different environments in the UK this year. We are excited to be working with Suregreen and the forestry industry to ensure that future tree planting that we expect in the UK is both productive and sustainable”.Click here for the full interview.
Ilika plc (LON:IKA) is the topic of conversation when Baden Hill’s Partner and Clean-Tech Equity Specialist Dr Tom McColm caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview. DirectorsTalk asked “Ilika’s share price has risen considerably over the last 12 months, what do you think the main reasons are for this?”
“Basically, the global nature of COVID has brought into view the global nature of the big challenges for society and the nearest and biggest looming one is climate change. There was already a lot going on but it’s really started to accelerate the decarbonisation of our energy system and the electrification of transport.
We’re on the cusp of exponential growth in those areas and what’s being recognised is a key piece of the jigsaw in achieving those two goals is scale storage of electricity. What that enables is variable demand across networks to match intermittent renewable supply so if you want to have full scale renewables powering a grid then you need storage to balance supply and demand.
Batteries now and for the foreseeable future are recognised as the best storage technology and so battery companies that are addressing one or both of those two markets are attracting a lot of investment and IKA is such a company.” Click here for the full interview.
Jubilee Metals Group plc (LON:JLP) Chief Executive Officer Leon Coetzer caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss their extraordinary growth, renewed interest from established financial institutions and what shareholders can expect in the short term.
DirectorsTalk asked: “It’s clearly been a successful year for Jubilee Metals Group, also recognised by the market. Can you continue to deliver this extraordinary growth, do you think?”
“Well, yes, you’re quite right. In 2020, we enjoyed tremendous success, record earnings delivered for the company, couldn’t have come at a better time when we currently capitalising and investing, of course, the second part of our business, which is equally exciting and equally important for our group.
So, the short answer is yes, the copper and base metal side of our company is busy rolling out its project, we have our refinery running and our copper cobalt side running. The refinery is fully commissioned, operationally ready to accept the product from our first copper project, Project Rowan, which is set to start delivering material to our refinery already in this quarter as we roll out and step up our copper production going forward.
We told the market that we are setting a target for ourselves to deliver 25,000 tonnes of copper units per annum within the next three years and we’re certainly fully committed to achieve that target.
So, on the back of a rollout of our copper and cobalt into the group, we fully expect to deliver and continue to deliver the kind of growth and earnings growth that our shareholders have grown accustomed to expect from us.” Click here for the full article.
Gresham House plc, (LON:GHE) the specialist alternative asset manager provided a trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2020. Group AUM has grown by c.42% to £3.9 billion for the year ending 31 December 2020, despite exceptionally difficult market conditions demonstrating the attractiveness and resilience of the Group’s sustainable investment strategies and talented team. This growth was driven by strong fundraising performances across both the Real Assets and Strategic Equity divisions, increasing the depth of the Group’s institutional client base, with the Gresham House Energy Storage Fund plc (GRID) raising £120 million, Gresham House Forest Fund I LP raising £108 million and the Baronsmead VCTs raising £38 million gross in the second half of the year.The overarching theme of sustainability continues to be highly relevant to our investment strategies and remains appealing to clients, which provides a strong tailwind for AUM growth. As a result, the Group expects to deliver full-year adjusted operating profits ahead of market expectations despite continued investment in resources to deliver GH25 ambitions.
The Group has built strong momentum in progress against its five year strategy, GH25, as outlined in March 2020. The acquisition of Appian Asset Management, subject to approval from the Central Bank of Ireland, accelerates international expansion plans with the establishment of a regulated EU-based platform. The acquisition enhances the Group’s capabilities to develop existing strategies in Ireland and Europe with a particular focus on targeting sustainable infrastructure, social housing, specialist equities and forestry. Click here for the full article.
DirectorsTalk spotlights some of the fastest growing London-listed companies and industry sectors that are contributing to a more sustainable world.
