• Energy Storage Key Focus At Bloomberg 2017 Future of Energy Global Summit

NEW YORK, April 25, 2017 – The emergence of global energy storage as a driving force in today’s energy sector transition was a key focus at the Bloomberg 2017 Future of Energy Global Summit held in New York City, April 24-25. Addressing the plenary session of over 1,000 global energy executives in attendance, Leclanché (www.leclanche.com) CEO Anil Srivasta told the audience it was ”witnessing totally new thinking toward the financing of energy storage projects by investors who are now looking at storage as a new asset class offering multiple revenue streams with large terminal value.”

Srivastava’s remarks summarized an expert panel’s findings on financing and investment models for grid energy storage systems sponsored by Leclanché SA (SIX: LECN), one of the world’s leading energy storage solution companies. The Bloomberg New Energy Finance panel of experts, led by Srivastava, consisted of Andy Tang, senior vice president of development at Greensmith Energy; Will Demas, senior vice president of Macquarie Capital; and Yayoi Sekine, senior energy storage analyst, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, who served as moderator. The session, entitled Financing and Investment Models for Grid Storage Systems, highlighted the growing applications and financing options for multiple grid, power plant, corporate and industrial and off-grid energy storage projects.

In his summary presentation to the Bloomberg Summit full plenary session, Srivastava added that the “fastest growth in energy storage was coming in the commercial and industrial sectors which are utilizing storage applications innovatively to better manage renewables integration and energy efficiency.” He commented that investors were adopting financing structures that addressed scale concerns and performance guarantees.

Sekine initially set the scene for the panel discussion by providing an overview of the energy storage sector outlining its rapid growth in a two-year period where global storage projects increased by more than 200 percent from 244 megawatts of storage projects commissioned in 2014 to 790 megawatts in 2016. She noted, however, that the number of third-party financed projects as opposed to owner-financed projects was relatively low during this period with most following traditional financing structures.

Tang emphasized that most of Greensmith Energy‘s storage projects involve ‘application stacking‘ which are more easily monetized than single application use. He advocated a rules-based approach to storage that prioritize the highest use first that will determine a project’s returns and investment terms. Greensmith Energy is a global leader in energy storage software and integration services.

The trend was confirmed by Demas, whose company – a leading global infrastructure investor – recently closed on the largest energy storage project in the U.S. with Southern California Edison (SCE) for a 300 mega watt hour, distributed fleet of battery storage
projects at a cost of $200 million. This project will allow SCE to shed up to 50 MW x 4 hours of peak load within its resource and grid-constrained West Los Angeles Basin service territory. While Demas noted that this project was financed in a similar structure to those used for solar energy development projects with similar guarantees, the SCE project also invloves contracted use guarantees from counterparties including large host customers of the project from a large commerical real estate firm to a state university. This made the SCE portfolio financeable in traditional markets.

The panel concluded that energy storage has changed the accepted equations in the institutional structure of the power industry and has begun to provide meaningful solutions to major customers whose actions will have major impact on the energy establishment going forward.

About Leclanché

Headquartered in Switzerland, Leclanché SA is a leading provider of high-quality energy storage solutions designed to accelerate our progress towards a clean energy future. Leclanché’s history and heritage is rooted in over 100 years of battery and energy storage innovation and the Company is a trusted provider of energy storage solutions globally. This coupled with the Company’s culture of German engineering and Swiss precision and quality, continues to make Leclanché the partner of choice for both disruptors, established companies and governments who are pioneering positive changes in how energy is produced, distributed and consumed around the world. The energy transition is being driven primarily by changes in the management of our electricity networks and the electrification of transport, and these two end markets form the backbone of our strategy and business model. Leclanché is at the heart of the convergence of the electrification of transport and the changes in the distribution network. Leclanché is the only listed pure play energy storage company in the world, organised along three business units: stationary storage solutions, e-Transport solutions and specialty batteries systems. Leclanché is listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange (SIX: LECN).

SIX Swiss Exchange: ticker symbol LECN | ISIN CH 011 030 311 9

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements relating to Leclanché’s business, which can be identified by terminology such as “strategic”, “proposes”, “to introduce”, “will”, “planned”, “expected”, “commitment”, “expects”, “set”, “preparing”, “plans”, “estimates”, “aims”, “would”, “potential”, “awaiting”, “estimated”, “proposal”, or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding the ramp up of Leclanché’s production capacity, potential applications for existing products, or regarding potential future revenues from any such products, or potential future sales or earnings of Leclanché or any of its business units. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Leclanché regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that Leclanché’s products will achieve any particular revenue levels. Nor can there be any guarantee that Leclanché, or any of the business units, will achieve any particular financial results.

Editor’s Note: Photos of panelists and graphics from the Financing and Investment Models
for Grid Storage Systems session are available upon request. A recording of the session will
be available by May 1 at www.leclanche.com.

Contacts Leclanché

Media Switzerland /Europe:

Thierry Meyer

T: +41 (0) 79 785 35 81

E-mail: tme@dynamicsgroup.ch

Media North America:

Henry Feintuch / Ashley Blas

T: +1-914-548-6924 / +1-509-494-4053

E-mail: leclanche@feintuchpr.com  

Media Germany:

Christoph Miller

T: +49 (0) 711 947 670

E-mail: leclanche@sympra.de

Investor Contacts:

Anil Srivastava / Hubert Angleys

T: +41 (0) 24 424 65 00

E-mail: invest.leclanche@leclanche.com