Yorkshire green energy firm snapped up in multi-million pound deal

The deal means JLEN will take over several Yorkshire-based hydropower and battery storage projects including Kirkthorpe hydro, a 500kW single turbine hydro project located on the River Calder, which was commissioned in 2016.

It has also bought Thrybergh hydro, a twin screw 260kW hydro project located on the River Don, commissioned in 2015, and a 1.2MW battery co-located at Thrybergh, commissioned in January 2018.

Both hydro projects are accredited under the 20-year Feed-in-Tariff scheme. The battery storage project at Thrybergh is currently dedicated to a Firm Frequency Response contract.

JLEN said the deal will be its first investment in two new sectors – run-of-river hydro and battery storage - which will diversify the company's portfolio of environmental infrastructure projects. These currently include wind, solar, anaerobic digestion, waste and wastewater.

Yorkshire Hydropower has been sold by a group of high-net-worth investors, who provided the original funding under the Enterprise Investment Scheme.

The acquisition increases the total capacity of renewable energy assets in the JLEN investment portfolio to 281.16MW. The acquisition was funded by the group’s internal cash resources.

JLEN chairman Richard Morse said: "We are pleased to make our first investment into two new asset classes in run-of-river hydro and battery storage.

"These projects have a proven operational history, benefit from strong contractual revenues and broaden the diversification within the JLEN portfolio.

"Furthermore, they demonstrate the synergistic benefits of co-locating renewable energy generation and storage technology."