Interview: Meet the Gore Street Capital CEO, Alex O’Cinneide

Gore Street Capital (GSC) has been a leading player in the energy storage space since its inception in 2015, commissioning its first 6 MW asset in 2017 before launching the UK’s first energy storage fund on the London Stock Exchange a year later. Today, the 1.248 GW portfolio owned by Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (LSE: GSF) stretches across five separate markets, including in California where the GSC construction team is working on the 200 MW Big Rock asset.

Alex O’Cinneide, CEO and co-founder of GSC, recently joined Modo Energy’s Transmission podcast to discuss the company’s journey as a first mover in multiple geographies, and how this diversification has been integral to delivering value to GSF’s investors.

Over the wide-ranging interview recorded in Austin, Texas during a recent visit to the 75 MW Dogfish construction asset, Alex discusses the investment thesis of the company—to deploy a critical technology for the energy transition, driven by strong fundamentals and market need—and the value of holding the expertise needed to unlock value for investors in-house.

These principles have been tested over 2024, which has proved to be a challenging time for the energy storage sector as well as the investment trust space. Market saturation and high interest rates in Great Britain have impacted both available revenues and the ability to raise new capital. As Alex explains, the international strategy enacted on behalf of GSF to position the fund across multiple markets has limited the impact of these conditions and helped retain a stable revenue profile.

Diversification can be found not just in the geographies in which GSC manages battery energy storage but also in the durations within the portfolio. With assets ranging from 30 minutes in Northern Ireland to two hours in Texas, the systems managed by GSC have been sized to minimise capital expenditure while ensuring access to the broadest range of revenue streams possible. These projects have also been designed with augmentation in mind for when market opportunity warrants the additional cost of adding duration, which can be achieved today at a significant discount compared to 18 months ago. Alex outlines how this is particularly relevant in Great Britain (GB), where the minor difference in revenue secured by two-hour assets added to the nation’s battery energy storage fleet in the last two years has failed to deliver a return against their higher capital costs.

While GSC remains committed to GB as one of the most important markets for energy storage, it remains focused growth as a global platform. Alex outlines the company’s future activities to build out capacity across the GSF portfolio as well as GSC’s activities in Japan, where the company has been appointed joint manager of the country’s first dedicated energy storage fund alongside ITOCHU.