Field raises £200M from DIF Capital Partners to boost battery energy storage

Founded by former Bulb Energy co-founder Amit Gudka, battery energy storage systems developer and operator Field has raised £200 million via Dutch mid-market infrastructure fund manager DIF Capital Partners. The investment is expected to be used to accelerate Field’s development and buildout of a 4.5 GWh pipeline of grid-feeding large batteries across the UK and Western Continental Europe.

The DIF investment follows Field’s June 2022 raise of £77 million, led by Taavet Hinrikus, Sten Tamkivi, Ian Hogarth, and Khaled Helioui’s Plural Platform, Triple Point, and Local Globe, a member of the Phoenix Group.

Although Bulb Energy ultimately went into administration, was bailed out by the UK Government at an estimated cost of £6.5 billion and since acquired by Octopus, Field founder Amit Gudka left the company nine months prior to its demise.

Establishing Field (formerly known as Virmati Energy) in February of 2021, the company has its first site in the UK up and running, a 20 MWh battery project in Oldham, Greater Manchester, with four additional sites in or near construction in the UK at Newport in South Wales, Blackburn in Lancashire, Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire and Auchteraw in the Scottish Highlands for a combined total of  210 MWh.

“We will not be able to meet net-zero targets without significant investment in new energy infrastructure. Battery storage is a critical part of that infrastructure. The more we can build, the more effective mass usage of wind and solar power will become,” commented Gudka.

“Our partnership with DIF Capital Partners will enable Field to accelerate the buildout of battery storage in the UK and across Europe. And it will help us build, develop and operate the storage we need to create a more reliable, flexible and greener grid.”