TLT has advised Thrive Renewables on a joint venture (JV) with Aura Power to supply medium and large energy users with free battery storage installations in return for revenue share.

The JV will fund, develop and operate energy storage systems to help users to reduce energy costs and their environmental impact. The offer is ideally suited to businesses spending £50k a month or more on electricity with steady consumption and spare import capacity. Thrive and Aura are already in talks with several businesses including a large dairy, a food processor and a tile manufacturer.

The innovative arrangement will see Thrive provide financing in the form of a loan to the JV company, while Aura will be responsible for finding and developing sites. The batteries will range from 500kW to 5MW.

TLT advised Thrive on the JV agreement and loan documentation, as well as the power purchase agreement and lease structuring to be deployed at each site.

The TLT team included Maria Connolly, partner and head of clean energy; Gary Roscoe, banking and finance partner; Antonia Silvestri, corporate partner; Nick Rains, corporate chartered legal executive; Stuart Urquhart, commercial legal director; and Kerri Ashworth, real estate legal director.

Matthew Clayton, managing director at Thrive, says: "We are passionate about connecting people to sustainable energy. This initiative will make it easier for corporate and other medium and large-scale energy users to realise the benefits of energy storage, ultimately paving the way for a growing proportion of the UK’s energy to be sourced from renewables.

"We decided to partner with TLT because they have the breadth and depth of experience to get a complex deal like this off the ground and to keep delivering the right outcomes for everyone involved. They delivered excellent service throughout and we are looking forward to continuing working with them as we find new sites to develop."

Maria Connolly, partner and head of clean energy at TLT, says: "This is a very innovative partnership that demonstrates the increasing role that energy storage has to play in the UK energy market, and the potential for more behind-the-meter solutions.

"In a post-subsidy environment and as costs for new technologies continue to come down, innovative joint ventures like this will help to accelerate new developments like the adoption of behind-the-meter storage by energy users."

TLT has advised on a wide range of JV arrangements, and was recently awarded Corporate Law Firm of the Year at the South West Dealmaker Awards.