Sosteneo has agreed to buy Sheaf Energy Park, a 249 MW battery in Kent, from Pacific Green for an enterprise value of $260 million. It is the second battery the two companies have traded in five months, and the two sites sit side by side. The first one changed hands for less per MW. The reason has more to do with what the $260 million pays for than with the battery itself.
Key takeaways
- Sosteneo Infrastructure Partners agreed on 7 November 2023 to acquire the 249 MW, 373.5 MWh Sheaf Energy Park battery in Kent, England, from Pacific Green Technologies for an enterprise value of $260 million, about $1.04 million per MW.
- Pacific Green is selling 100 percent of the shares in Pacific Green Battery Energy Parks 2 Limited to Sosteneo Fund 1 HoldCo, and Sosteneo will provide a capital expenditure loan that, together with a senior debt facility, fully funds the development and construction of Sheaf Energy Park.
- Pacific Green took the final investment decision on Sheaf Energy Park in November 2023 and secured a $146.27 million senior debt facility for the battery from NatWest and the UK Infrastructure Bank, with construction starting the same month and commercial operation expected by July 2025.
- Sheaf Energy Park is Sosteneo's third battery investment, after the 99 MW Richborough Energy Park in Kent, also bought from Pacific Green in June 2023 for $93.04 million, and the Koorangie battery project in Australia.
- Enerdatics records 24 UK battery storage M&A transactions announced in 2023. Nine carry a disclosed value, and across the seven where a per MW price can be calculated the median is about $0.29 million per MW.
What exactly is Sosteneo paying $260 million for?
For a battery that has not been built yet, plus the money to build it. Enterprise value is the value of an asset including the debt that sits against it, not just the price of the shares. In this deal the buyer is not only taking the shares in the project company. It is also lending the project the capital it needs to reach operation.
The structure works in two layers. Pacific Green had already arranged senior debt from NatWest and the UK Infrastructure Bank at final investment decision. Sosteneo then steps in with a capital expenditure loan, which is a loan from the owner to its own project to cover construction spending. The two together fully fund Sheaf Energy Park through to operation.
Leap does not split the $260 million between what Pacific Green receives and what goes into construction. So the headline figure is closer to the cost of a finished battery than to the price of a permitted site.
Why is Sheaf priced above Richborough next door?
Because the two deals do not buy the same thing at the same point. Richborough Energy Park, the 99 MW battery that Sosteneo bought from Pacific Green and Green Power Reserves in June 2023, priced at about $0.94 million per MW. Sheaf, on the adjoining land, comes in at about $1.04 million per MW, roughly a tenth higher.
The records point to two reasons. Sheaf's enterprise value explicitly includes a construction funding commitment from the buyer. And Sheaf was bought at the moment construction began, with lenders and a final investment decision already in place.
Battery size has two measures. Power, in MW, is how fast it can charge or discharge. Energy, in MWh, is how much it can store. Divide one by the other and you get duration, the number of hours it can run at full power. Sheaf is a 1.5 hour battery, at 373.5 MWh on 249 MW. At $260 million that is about $0.70 million per MWh of storage.
How did the project reach Sosteneo?
Through two owners in under a year. Sheaf Energy Park was first developed and owned by Tupa Energy. Pacific Green bought 100 percent of it in December 2022, took it to final investment decision, raised the senior debt and started construction in November 2023. Within the same month it agreed to sell.
That is a recognisable model. Pacific Green buys late-stage battery projects, carries them through financing and the start of construction, and then sells them to a long-term owner. Richborough followed the same path to the same buyer. Pacific Green has since turned to Australia, where it raised $49.96 million to develop a 7 GWh battery portfolio, as set out in Enerdatics' coverage of Pacific Green's Australian battery storage financing.
For Sosteneo, the attraction is the reverse: a battery with debt and a construction programme in place, and no development risk. Sosteneo was advised financially by Alexa Capital and PwC, legally by Ashurst and technically by GHD.
Enerdatics' data shows how thin pricing is in the UK battery market. Enerdatics records 24 UK battery storage transactions announced in 2023, and only nine of them carry a disclosed value. Across the seven that can be expressed per MW, the median is about $0.29 million per MW, but that blends very different assets. Development-stage sites trade far lower: the 130 MW Toton project sold for $10.47 million in February 2023, about $0.08 million per MW, and the remaining 51 percent of the 42 MW Balbougie battery sold for $1.96 million in September 2023, under $0.1 million per MW on a 100 percent basis. The assets under construction are a separate tier. Richborough at about $0.94 million per MW and Sheaf at about $1.04 million per MW are the two highest asset-level prints in the year. In March 2024, E.ON paid $92 million for half of a 230 MW, 460 MWh battery under construction, which grosses up to about $0.80 million per MW for the whole project.
What does the deal signal for UK battery storage?
It signals that the UK battery market splits sharply by stage, and that the price of a project jumps most at final investment decision. A permitted site with a grid offer changes hands for a few tens of thousands of dollars per MW. The same site, once it has debt and a construction start, trades in the region of a million dollars per MW. Most of that gap is construction capital.
It also shows a class of long-term investor building UK storage exposure by buying at construction rather than developing. Sosteneo, part of Generali Investments, made Sheaf its third battery deal of 2023. It has since moved into other technologies, as in Enerdatics' analysis of Sosteneo's first Fund II investment in German wind.
The open question is revenue. Leap's record does not state how Sheaf will sell its output or capacity. A 1.5 hour battery earns from trading, grid services and capacity payments in proportions that shift each year. Sosteneo has paid a construction-stage price for an asset whose revenue terms are not in the record, and the return will depend on how those markets look after July 2025.
Frequently asked questions
How much did Sosteneo pay for Sheaf Energy Park? Sosteneo agreed to acquire Sheaf Energy Park for an enterprise value of $260 million, announced on 7 November 2023. That includes a capital expenditure loan from Sosteneo which, with a $146.27 million senior debt facility from NatWest and the UK Infrastructure Bank, fully funds construction.
How big is Sheaf Energy Park? Sheaf Energy Park is a 249 MW, 373.5 MWh lithium-ion battery in Kent, England, located next to the Richborough Energy Park. Construction started in November 2023 and commercial operation is expected by July 2025.
Who developed Sheaf Energy Park? Sheaf Energy Park was initially developed and owned by Tupa Energy. Pacific Green Technologies acquired 100 percent of the project in December 2022, took the final investment decision in November 2023 and then agreed to sell it to Sosteneo.
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