BGF completes successful exit of Bristol-based Fig Power

By Nicky Godding

14 February 2024

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Fig Power

BGF, one of the largest growth capital investors in the UK and Ireland, has successfully exited Bristol-based Fig Power, an innovative developer of distributed energy storage and generation assets.

The business has been acquired by The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG), the FTSE 250 investment company. TRIG has a portfolio of wind, solar and battery storage projects across six countries in Europe with aggregate net generating capacity of over 2.8GW.

Fig Power was founded as a standalone company in 2022, following a spin out from award-winning engineering design, energy and sustainability consultancy Hydrock, also based in Bristol. BGF has backed Hydrock since 2018, providing significant investment to support the company’s organic and acquisitive growth strategy.

BGF, which has a minority stake in Fig Power, worked alongside Hydrock as it successfully launched Fig as a significant developer of battery storage sites to support the renewable energy market. Following the sale to TRIG, Fig Power will be in a position to further selectively accelerate development activity as it continues on its mission to develop assets that will help the UK deliver clean, reliable energy generation and storage.

Fig Power has a 1.7GW development pipeline in the UK, including nine more advanced projects (c. 400MW with grid offers ranging from 2025 to 2033) and a further c. 1.3GW of exclusive sites. Fig Power's two-hour projects are expected to participate principally in the UK wholesale and balancing markets.

Paul Oldham, investor at BGF, said: “Fig Power is at the heart of a rapidly maturing energy storage sector and it has been a privilege to help its strong team to establish and grow the business. We’re sure that, under the stewardship of TRIG, the business is destined for great things.”

Henry Easterbrook, CEO of Fig Power, said: “I look forward to the next stage of growth as we move forward with our goal of helping our clients and partners meet their decarbonisation targets, drive economic growth, support communities and create new asset value streams.

“TRIG’s track record and large scale in the renewables market make it the ideal capital and delivery partner allowing us to develop and construct operational assets, combining to form an end-to-end, integrated approach to delivering the energy transition.”

Richard Crawford, Head of Energy Income Funds at InfraRed Capital Partners which advised TRIG, said:

"Flexible capacity, of which battery storage is a key component, is core to the energy transition and important to the rollout of renewables. Batteries, therefore, represent an important investment sector for TRIG, providing diversifying and often complementary revenues to the portfolio.

"Adding development capabilities within TRIG's investment portfolio creates the opportunity to capture higher returns for shareholders and generate a proprietary pipeline through a team that is closely aligned with TRIG's objectives. Fig Power will leverage the development experience of TRIG's Managers. InfraRed has a strong track record of investing in flexible energy platforms for over a decade, most recently in Statera Energy. RES has been a pioneer in UK battery storage.

"Fig Power also builds on the four development-stage battery investments that TRIG added in 2022. Preliminary construction works on the first of these projects began in January and we expect to start groundworks on the second project in H2 2024."

Advisers to Fig Power include PKF Francis Clark and Freeths

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.