Ares Infrastructure Equity funds have acquired a significant minority stake in Statera Energy’s UK portfolio of about 1.9GW of battery storage and flexible generation, Statera announced on October 14. Financial terms and the size of the stake were not disclosed. It is Ares Infrastructure Equity’s first investment in Europe.
The portfolio includes the 680MW Carrington Storage project in Greater Manchester and the 750MW Thurrock Flexible Generation project in Essex. Statera keeps majority ownership and continues to own, operate and manage the assets, with Ares joining as a long term investment partner providing additional capital for the next phase of growth.
Statera is advancing a development pipeline of about 16GW and says the new capital supports a plan to deliver 7GW of flexible capacity by 2030. Flexible assets of this kind earn from balancing a grid with rising shares of intermittent wind and solar, which is why the segment has drawn infrastructure equity that previously concentrated on contracted generation.
The deal has no disclosed price, so it cannot be valued against other UK flexibility transactions. What is disclosed is the structure: a minority, growth style entry by a US manager into a developer operator’s operating portfolio, leaving control and operations with the founder led platform.