DIF Capital partners to invest £200m in UK battery storage developer and operator Field Energy

PwC UK's Corporate Finance team is pleased to announce the successful completion of a £200m investment by DIF Capital Partners, a Netherlands-based independent infrastructure fund manager into UK battery storage developer Field Energy.

DIF Capital Partners is an independent infrastructure fund manager, with more than EUR 16 billion of AUM. DIF was founded in 2005 and has built a leading position in managing mid-market investments, primarily in Europe, North America and Australia.

Field Energy, founded in 2020 and headquartered in London is a vertically integrated developer, operator, and owner of grid-scale battery storage. Field Energy’s battery energy storage systems allow energy generated during times of lower demand to be stored and released to the grid during times of higher demand.

Field is already operating its first site in the UK, a 20 MWh battery project in Oldham, Greater Manchester. It has another four sites totalling 210 MWh in or near construction in the UK (South Wales, Lancashire, Buckinghamshire and Scottish Highlands), and 4.5GWh currently in its pipeline. Field Energy is also looking to grow its business across Europe, having already secured a foothold in the Italian storage market.

PwC UK's Corporate Finance team acted as exclusive lead finance advisor to DIF.

Our breadth of service offerings allowed us to propose an integrated team of lead advisory, financial due diligence, tax due diligence and tax structuring services – working together to resolve a number of deal-critical items and enabling DIF to successfully complete the transaction.

The mandate was built on a strong and long-lasting relationship. PwC has previously acted as lead financial adviser to DIF on a number of transactions and demonstrates PwC’s capability as a market-leading advisor in the energy storage sector.

Battery storage is critical to enable the transition to a more flexible, reliable and greener energy system, helping the UK and countries across Europe to move on from fossil fuels and reach Net Zero. As the world increasingly deploys intermittent renewable generation such as wind and solar there will be an increasing need for storage to allow supply and demand of electricity to be managed.

DIF’s investment will allow Field to accelerate the development and buildout of its 4.5GWh pipeline of grid-scale battery energy storage projects in the UK and Western Europe.

This constitutes DIF’s second investment in the battery storage sector and is seen as highly complementary to DIF’s renewable energy portfolio, both in the UK and internationally.