Energy storage outfit Gravitricity has appointed corporate finance specialist Gneiss Energy to lead a £40m funding drive, with the goal of building three demonstrator projects in the next five years.
Earlier this year the Edinburgh-based developer unveiled its H2 FlexiStore hydrogen storage technology as a new product alongside its existing gravity-based technologies.
The company is already planning a full-scale demonstrator project in a former mine in the Czech Republic as well as a purpose-built new shaft scheme in northern England.
Gravitricity has now brought on board Edinburgh and London based Gneiss Energy, a corporate finance and strategic advisory firm focussed on the energy sector, to help it raise £40m to bring these early projects to fruition.
“Energy storage technologies will be fundamental to the energy transition, and we are already seeing strong interest in Gravitricity from strategic industrial investors, impact, specialist and hybrid funds,” states Nick Edgar, Head of Cleantech and Renewables at Gneiss.
Gravitricity is developing technologies that cycle rapidly between charge and discharge without any loss in performance, as well as offering long duration capabilities – all characteristics which will become increasingly valuable to grid operators as renewable penetration increases.
The H2 FlexiStore taps into the rapidly growing hydrogen market offering a “Goldilocks” mid-scale hydrogen storage solution, with a capacity between large-scale salt caverns and much smaller above-ground storage, which is ideally sized for the industrial hydrogen hubs of the future, Edgar added.
The company has already raised with £7.5m, with around half private investment alongside public support from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Innovate UK and BEIS.