2025 results: NAV up, cash generation, and bigger batteries
Gresham House Energy Storage Fund (GRID) has delivered a tidy set of full-year numbers for 2025, with growth in net asset value (NAV), operational capacity and cash generation. Management says it is executing on its Three-year Plan, while navigating industry-wide grid connection delays. The tone is confident, and for good reason – execution is improving, and the balance sheet has been refreshed on better terms.
The standout positives: NAV per share rose 3.7% to 113.34p, unaudited operational revenues and EBITDA jumped nearly a third, and contracted revenues more than doubled. The main caveat: National Energy System Operator (NESO) queue reforms have pushed some connection dates out to 2029, stretching the original timeline for the growth plan.
Key numbers from GRID’s 2025 full-year results
| Metric | 2025 | Change vs 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| NAV per share | 113.34p | +3.7% (109.35p) |
| Operational capacity | 1,072MW / 1,701MWh | Up from 845MW / 1,207MWh |
| Average duration | 1.59 hours | Up from 1.43 hours |
| Unaudited Operational Portfolio revenue | £60.4 million | +29.9% (FY24: £46.5 million) |
| Unaudited Operational Portfolio EBITDA | £38.8 million | +33.4% (FY24: £29.1 million) |
| EBITDA margin | 64.2% | Up from 62.5% |
| Contracted revenues | £23.8 million | More than doubled (FY24: £11.5 million) |
| Revenue per MW | £68.6k/MW/year | +14.7% (FY24: £59.8k/MW/year) |
What’s driving the growth: capacity, duration, and contracts
GRID has been busy. It commissioned Melksham, West Bradford and Shilton Lane, and continued augmenting existing projects. The fleet now runs at 1,072MW and 1,701MWh, with average duration up to 1.59 hours. Longer duration matters – it allows batteries to capture more value across different services and time periods.
On the revenue side, unaudited operational revenue rose 29.9% to £60.4 million and EBITDA climbed 33.4% to £38.8 million, helped by a 14.7% jump in revenue per MW. Importantly, contracted revenues more than doubled to £23.8 million, and GRID signed long-term floor agreements covering 939MW of the operational portfolio and 637MW of pipeline projects. Floors typically give minimum price certainty – a helpful stabiliser in a volatile market.
Three-year Plan progress and the NESO queue delays
The Three-year Plan (2025-2027) has three pillars: extend duration across the existing fleet (targeting up to 1.5GWh of augmentations), build a 680MW pipeline across five projects, and layer in Alternative Revenues to broaden the income mix.
Augmentation is on track operationally. Between 2024 and 2025, GRID delivered 330MWh across seven projects. A further 350MWh across eight projects is being installed in 2026, which should lift the portfolio to around two hours average duration. Management says the portfolio can support further augmentations beyond that, though these are not yet confirmed.
The curveball is NESO’s Queue Reform. GRID has offers on four of five projects, representing 594MW of its 694MW pipeline. Connection dates for 297MW (Monets Garden and Cockenzie) are confirmed for 2027, Elland 2 (100MW) is still awaiting a date with 2027 expected, and 297MW (Ocker Hill and Lister Drive) are now slated for 2029 – beyond the original target. A Capital Markets Day in May will reset milestones and timing. The delay is a sector-wide issue rather than company-specific, but it does push revenue realisation to the right.
Funding the new pipeline without fresh equity
With equity markets effectively shut to new share issuance, GRID is leaning on project finance. In December 2025, it signed agreements to acquire Cockenzie, Monets Garden and Elland 2, totalling 397MW / 794MWh, with financial close targeted in the coming weeks. The plan is to fund up to 70% of total project costs with senior debt at an attractive margin, supplemented by an export credit agency-backed junior tranche for BESS equipment – also at an attractive margin. Pre-funding construction work has already begun.
Two other projects – Lister Drive (57MW) and Ocker Hill (240MW) – are expected to be contracted imminently, with construction now likely to start in early 2027 given the later connections. On the balance sheet, GRID closed a new £220 million amortising debt facility on improved terms and secured around £9 million of equity at NAV at project level for Glassenbury to take it to two hours. In plain English: the company is building flexibly and non-dilutively, which is shareholder-friendly if executed well.
Alternative revenues: small trial, big promise
Since late 2025, GRID has been running formal trials of its Alternative Revenues strategy – essentially tapping more margin from the electricity value chain without displacing existing income streams. Early signs are strong: the trial has so far exceeded expectations by more than doubling existing revenues on the trial capacity.
The scale has been modest to date, kept below 10MW through March 2026. From 1 April 2026, it is stepping up to around 10MW, with potential to scale further before year-end, subject to reviews. The company continues to target £25 million in incremental EBITDA from Alternative Revenues by the end of 2027. It is early days, but if GRID can replicate trial uplift at scale, it could be a meaningful earnings lever.
What this means for investors
Overall, this is a constructive update. NAV per share is edging higher despite falling third-party revenue curves, operational cash generation is improving, and the portfolio is getting longer duration – a foundation for higher quality earnings. The stack of contracted and floor-backed revenues is growing, which should make cash flows less spiky.
The risks are clear: grid connection delays push out some of the pipeline to 2029, and Alternative Revenues must prove itself at scale. Revenue curves are a headwind, and the equity window remains closed, keeping pressure on efficient project-level financing. That said, the new £220 million facility on better terms and the use of ECA-backed junior debt are sensible moves.
My take: execution in 2025-2026 looks solid, and 2026 should show tangible progress as financing closes and construction ramps, while augmentations lift duration to around two hours. If Alternative Revenues delivers anything close to trial results, it could further support NAV and cash flow growth.
Key catalysts to watch in 2026-2027
- Capital Markets Day in May – updated timeline and milestones for the Three-year Plan.
- Financial close for Cockenzie, Monets Garden and Elland 2, and terms for senior and junior tranches.
- Contracting of Lister Drive and Ocker Hill, and construction start timing.
- Rollout of 350MWh of augmentations in 2026 and progress toward c.2-hour average duration.
- Scale-up of Alternative Revenues beyond c.10MW and evidence of sustained revenue uplift.
- Final connection date confirmation for Elland 2 and any shifts in NESO queue outcomes.
- Further growth in contracted revenues and additional floor agreements.
Jargon buster
- NAV per share – the fund’s net assets divided by shares in issue, a core metric for investment trusts.
- MW/MWh – megawatts measure power capacity; megawatt-hours measure stored energy. Duration is MWh divided by MW.
- EBITDA – earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, a proxy for operating cash generation.
- BESS – battery energy storage systems that store electricity and release it when needed.
- NESO Queue Reform – changes to the national grid connection queue that have reset connection dates across the market.
- Floor agreements – long-term contracts that provide a minimum revenue or price level, reducing downside volatility.
