Investors / Distributed battery energy storage
Investment opportunity
Distributed battery energy storage.
A 200-site behind-the-meter battery portfolio across UK commercial and industrial sites.
200
C&I battery sites over 5 years
105
sites live by month 24
£5m
initial, plus £15–25m call-down
c.2.3x
indicative base-case equity multiple
The opportunity
GridUnlock is building a portfolio of 200 battery energy storage systems on commercial and industrial sites over five years, with 100+ live inside 24 months. Instead of one large grid-scale battery waiting years for a connection, we install many smaller batteries behind the meter at sites that already have a grid connection, and earn from more than one revenue stream at each.
We are seeking £5m of initial investment, with a £15–25m call-down facility drawn site by site as the portfolio scales. In our base case the plan delivers around 200MW / 400MWh of storage, roughly £20m of annual revenue by Year 5, and an indicative 2.3x return on equity over a five-year hold.
The battery is the investment. EV charging, energy management and solar are added on the back of each battery, but the case does not depend on them.
The problem: grid-scale storage is stuck in the queue
- Connection queues. NESO's December 2025 queue reform cut 153GW of battery projects from priority. Of the 83GW kept, only 33GW connects before 2030, and the rest up to 2035.1
- Dates slipping for established players. One listed storage fund received 2029 energisation dates for two sites in April 2026 and warned its earnings target would slip as a result.2
- Long development cycles. Land, planning, transmission assessment and a new connection mean years of spend before a single MWh is traded.
- One revenue line. A standalone grid battery earns almost entirely from merchant trading, which investors discount heavily.
Our approach: many smaller batteries, behind the meter
- Sites that already have a connection: quarries, transport depots and farms with existing grid capacity and large, steady energy use.
- No cost to the host: the site gets cheaper, more secure energy and unlocked capacity without spending capital.
- Managed as one portfolio: one reference design, one contract pack and one control platform, so site 150 is as repeatable as site 15.
- GridUnlock aligned with investors: we earn as developer and operator and hold a growing stake in the portfolio.
Why it works
| Grid-scale BESS | GridUnlock distributed BESS | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to revenue | Years; connection dates into 2029–2035 | Months per site, using existing connections |
| Planning | Full planning, often contested | Small footprint on existing industrial land |
| Development cost at risk | High, front-loaded before connection | Low per site; capital drawn as each site is signed |
| Revenue streams | Mainly merchant trading | Contracted site energy services, plus grid trading and capacity income |
| Concentration risk | One site, one connection | 200 sites across sectors and regions |
| Add-on income | None | EV charging, energy management, solar |
Revenue stack per site
- Contracted energy services to the host site (the bankable base)
- Wholesale and grid flexibility trading via a portfolio optimiser
- Capacity and balancing payments
- Add-on services: EV charging, energy management, solar
Rollout plan
Cumulative sites in operation, base plan. Years 3–4 shown as an even build of 30–35 a year. Illustrative.
Indicative financials
In the base case, investor equity of around £17.6m at peak returns an indicative 2.3x over five years (c.30% IRR). Revenue reaches £20.1m and EBITDA £13.6m by Year 5.
| Scenario | Site-level return | Peak equity drawn | Equity multiple | Equity IRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | c.8% | c.£22m | c.1.2x | c.6% |
| Base | c.11% | c.£18m | c.2.3x | c.30% |
| Upside | c.13.5% | c.£16m | c.3.6x | c.47% |
Add-on services are upside, not base. EV charging, energy management and solar sold into the same sites add an estimated £2m a year of revenue by Year 5, and would lift the base multiple to around 3.7x.
How the capital works
- £5m initial investment funds Year 1: development, the first 30 sites and the platform.
- The £15–25m call-down is drawn only as sites are signed.
- Portfolio debt of around 60% is introduced once sites are operating.
- Total portfolio capex is around £100m.
Pre-NDA summary. Not an offer of securities. All figures are illustrative, built at portfolio level, BESS revenue only, and subject to verification with supplier pricing and live site data. Full assumptions are available under NDA.
Key risks and how we manage them
| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| Site performance below plan | Strict site qualification on energy use and connection headroom; batteries sized to each site's real load |
| Trading price volatility | Contracted site revenue as the base; merchant income discounted in the model; floor or tolling arrangement sought with the optimiser |
| Regulatory change | Sites kept at or below 5MW; structure under review with specialist energy counsel |
| Hardware cost and delivery | Portfolio procurement across standard block sizes; tier-one equipment with performance warranties |
| Deployment pace | Capital drawn site by site, so undeployed capital is never at risk; pipeline drawn from GridUnlock's existing fleet and industrial customers |
Next steps
On signature of a mutual NDA, GridUnlock will share the full site and portfolio models, the commercial and contract structure, the first-phase site pipeline and the capital structure.
Sources: 1 NESO connections reform outcome, December 2025, as reported by Energy-Storage.news.2 Reported by The AIC, April 2026.