Gore Street Energy Storage Fund has agreed a deal to use Arenko’s Nimbus software in its operating portfolio, the companies exclusively revealed to Solar energy portal.
Over the next six months, an initial 18 grid-scale battery energy storage projects with a total capacity of just under 500 MW will be installed on the AI-enabled Nimbus platform. The first asset is expected to be fully integrated within weeks of completion of the deal.
The deal will see Gore Street deliver standardized data, advanced multimarket dispatching, enhanced asset operations capabilities, real-time asset telemetry, performance insights and alerting and reporting capabilities designed to help technical performance across its portfolio improve.
The beta version of the Nimbus platform launched in November 2022 and promised to enable battery developers and asset owners to accurately monitor and track the performance of a battery within a project. This allows owners to effectively monitor the status of the technology and optimize projects accordingly.
It standardizes data flows, streamlines connectivity and integrations with existing IT systems and third-party software, and automates key processes for asset managers.
Alex O’Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital, the energy storage fund’s investment manager, said the integration is an “exciting step” in the company’s “data-driven approach to asset management”.
He continued: “This integration streamlines our ability to optimize projects and enhances the tools available to maximize commercial revenue. Additionally, it delivers significant safety benefits and unlocks Opex improvements available through our industry-leading portfolio insurance policy.”
Rupert Newland, founder and CEO of Arenko, said: “This deal is further evidence of a growing trend among the most sophisticated asset owners using software to improve the performance of their portfolios, projects and stakeholders.”
This is not the first time the companies have worked together to optimize Gore Street assets. The software company provided its services as a route to market for a 10MW Gore Street assetwith the battery being traded to improve its financial and technical performance in 2021.
Arenko also has a long-term relationship with Gresham House Energy Storage Fund, starting in 2020 when the latter acquired 41 MW of energy storage in a £20.1 million transaction as Arenko moved to become a ‘pure-play software company’.
Most recently, on September 5, it sold the Nimbus Performance platform to Gresham House with 250MW of batteries to help manage the latter’s tolling arrangements with Octopus Energy.
Shortly afterwards, Arenko signed a similar asset management agreement with Varco Energy, a British battery asset owner with a pipeline of three long-term storage projects (LDES). Early this year, Arenko said Nimbus is operating about 600 MW of battery capacity and committed to a 2 GW long-term pipeline.