​IRELAND: Highfield Solar seen prepping sale of 130 MW BESS portfolio

Highfield Solar is understood to be preparing the sale of its 70 MW Clare East and 60 MW Ballyglasheen West battery storage projects in Ireland.

The development platform, which is backed by Highfield Energy and Aura Power, has appointed KPMG as sell-side adviser on the disposal and teasers have recently been circulated in the market.

Clare East and Ballyglasheen West, located in County Mayo and County Tipperary, respectively, are both designed as four-hour duration batteries.

Both assets have been consented for several years but only this year received grid offers in the ECP-2.4 process, for which successful bidders were announced earlier in 2024.

However, the sellers state that some flexibility remains for the final designs, including there not yet being EPC or other contractors in place, which will allow the buyer to negotiate these components independently.

Meanwhile, Highfield has suggested that the batteries could compete for contracts in the upcoming T-4 capacity market auction in Ireland which is set to be held in late November.

Arbitrage and a potential long duration energy storage support framework could also be part of the revenue stack for the projects.

Irish network operator EirGrid is targeting the addition of 2.4 GW of four hour-plus duration assets to its system by 2030.

Highfield and KPMG were contacted for comment.

*This story was originally published exclusively for NPM Europe subscribers.

NPM Europe is a leading data, intelligence and events company covering the European renewable energy market for the development, financing, M&A and corporate community.