APAC BESS daily brief · 2 Nov 2026

UK: OnPath Energy closes financing for Common Farm solar-plus-storage, NatWest provides term loan

Brookfield-owned OnPath Energy reached financial close on Common Farm Solar Park in Dinnington, South Yorkshire, its first co-located project: a 49 MW solar farm with a 50 MW/100 MWh BESS. NatWest is providing a financing package including a term loan and ancillary facilities; construction is underway with completion targeted for mid-2027.

• Size: 49 MW solar + 50 MW/100 MWh BESS; EPC and O&M: Grupotec; lead consultant: AECOM.
• OnPath has roughly 250 MW of consented or under-construction battery storage in the UK.

• Lender: NatWest (term loan plus ancillary facilities); debt amount, tenor and pricing: Not publicly disclosed.
• Revenue: solar backed by a subsidy-free long-term PPA with an undisclosed 'global technology firm'; the battery trades under a third-party optimisation agreement.
• View: pairing a contracted solar PPA with merchant-optimised storage is one route to bank debt for co-located sites without contracted storage revenue.

Sources: ESS News

UK BESS developers warn 7.6 GW LDES cap-and-floor could cost billpayers GBP 1.6bn

The Campaign to Deliver Affordable Energy Storage (CDAES), eight short-duration developers including Zenobe and Fidra Energy, commissioned Baringa analysis claiming Ofgem's proposed 7.6 GW of LDES cap-and-floor is 'too much, too soon' and could add GBP 1.6 billion to consumer costs. Ofgem has not yet made final awards.

• Baringa estimates top-up payments around GBP 110 million a year more on average than its central case; two-hour BESS revenues could fall 13%.
• View: the floor supports LDES debt sizing, but the same scheme could compress merchant revenues that lenders model for short-duration batteries.

• Ofgem's June 2026 'minded-to' decision progresses 16 projects in round one (11 lithium-ion BESS up to 18 hours, three pumped hydro, one compressed air, one vanadium flow), with an expected 25-year contract period.
• The 7.6 GW sits within NESO's 2025 recommended range of 2.7–7.7 GW by 2035.

Sources: ESS News

Australia H1 2026: nine large batteries (2.3 GW/7.1 GWh) switched on, 13 projects (1.6 GW/6.5 GWh) reach financial close

Reporting from All Energy Australia 2026 (Melbourne, 28–29 October), ESS News said nine large-scale projects totalling 2.3 GW/7.1 GWh were switched on in H1 2026, surpassing the 2 GW/5.1 GWh added during all of 2025. In the same period 13 projects totalling 1.6 GW/6.5 GWh reached financial close.

• H1 2026 energised: 9 projects, 2.3 GW/7.1 GWh; full-year 2025: 2 GW/5.1 GWh.
• AEMO data: a record 80.9 GW of new generation and storage projects in the pipeline.

• H1 2026 financial close: 13 projects, 1.6 GW/6.5 GWh; individual lenders and amounts: Not publicly disclosed.
• View: the financed pipeline averages roughly 4 hours of duration (6.5 GWh/1.6 GW), suggesting longer-duration assets are now bankable.

• The federal Cheaper Home Batteries program subsidises approximately 30% of the cost; more than 550,000 residential batteries installed in the 15 months since launch.
• Targets: 82% renewables in the NEM by 2030; 75% for Western Australia's main grid by 2031.

Sources: ESS News