BW ESS Secures Debt for 1,424-MWh Hams Hall Battery in England

• BW ESS secured debt from OCBC, Rabobank and Societe Generale for its Hams Hall battery in England, which will reach 400 MW / 1,424 MWh.
• BW ESS says the site will be Europe's largest operating battery by MWh; EDF holds a 10-year floor deal on phase one.
• The loan is expected to close at commercial operation, which BW ESS targets for the fourth quarter of 2026.

BW ESS secured debt financing from OCBC, Rabobank and Societe Generale for its Hams Hall battery in England's West Midlands, the company said on Oct. 22. The site will reach 400 MW / 1,424 MWh.

The banks will provide equal shares of the facility, and Rabobank will act as facility agent. More than 30 lenders engaged in the financing process, BW ESS said. It did not disclose the loan amount. The project financing is due to close at commercial operation.

The first phase, 350 MW / 1,243 MWh, connects at National Grid's 400-kV Hams Hall substation in North Warwickshire. A second phase adds 50 MW. BW ESS says the site will be Europe's largest operating battery by megawatt-hours. Sungrow agreed in 2024 to supply 280 grid-forming PowerTitan 2.0 units, totalling 1.4 GWh.

A 10-year floor agreement signed with EDF in April underpins phase one's revenue. EDF will run the battery through its PowerShift optimisation platform to balance supply and demand and support grid stability.

The Hams Hall deal in numbers

• 350 MW / 1,243 MWh in phase one, rising to 400 MW / 1,424 MWh with phase two.
• 3.55 hours of output at full power in phase one; phase two adds 181 MWh (list.solar calculation).
• 1.3 million homes could be supplied for up to 3.5 hours by the full site, BW ESS estimates.
• 4.3 times the 331 MWh of Bramley, the battery BW ESS operates in Hampshire (list.solar calculation).
• 4,956 MW of batteries operate at 178 UK sites, per the July 2026 Renewable Energy Planning Database; Hams Hall would add about 8% (list.solar calculation).
• 23–27 GW of batteries needed in Great Britain by 2030 under the Clean Power 2030 Action Plan, from 4.5 GW in late 2024.

Hams Hall belongs to BW ESS's 2.6-GWh Ardenham portfolio, co-owned with AIP Management. BW ESS, part of BW Group, operates more than 540 MWh of battery storage and is building 857 MWh at Berkswell in England.

The response from lenders "demonstrates growing confidence in both the investment case for battery storage and BW ESS' ability to develop and operate strategically important infrastructure assets," Chief Financial Officer Nick Stamp said in a statement.

BW ESS lists commercial operation for the fourth quarter of 2026 on its project page. It has given no date for phase two; the EDF floor deal covers the first phase.