RWE Enters Cloudy U.K. Solar Market

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland) - German energy giant RWE (Essen, Germany) has bought into one of the U.K.'s largest planned solar photovoltaic (PV) projects just as the sector faces a government review over the subsidies provided to large-scale solar projects.

The company has acquired the Kencot Hill Solar Farm, a 37-megawatt (MW) a ground-mounted solar PV project located on a disused airfield in Oxfordshire, England. RWE has appointed the U.K. arm of solar construction specialist Conergy (Hamburg, Germany) under an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract to build the park, which is expected to come online later this summer. Once constructed, RWE will sell the solar farm to Foresight Solar Fund Limited, an infrastructure asset management company.

"Utilising our project development, procurement and structuring skills, including expertise from RWE Innogy, we will deliver to Foresight a substantial, fully commissioned and ROC accredited solar PV park," commented Stefan Judisch, CEO of RWE Supply & Trading. "This finance model is very innovative. As the first such structure for RWE in the U.K. solar PV market, RWE is providing the crucial construction finance required to bridge the requirements of the project developer, EPC contractors and institutional investors in renewables projects. RWE aims in future to repeat this structure, attracting additional investors and thus helping the U.K. and other European governments to deliver their CO2 reduction and renewables targets."

Kencot Hill is expected to generate approximately 36 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in its first full year of operation, enough to power around 10,000 households.

RWE's decision comes at a turbulent time for the U.K.'s large-scale solar power segment, which is fighting against the threat of significant cuts to government support.

The government has recently voiced its support for larger scale rooftop projects over large scale ground-based projects. Talking at a solar plant opening last month, U.K. energy and climate change minister, Greg Barker, said: "We want to move the emphasis for growth away from large solar farms and instead focus on opening up the solar market for the U.K.'s estimated 250,000 hectares of south-facing commercial rooftops."

He added: "There is massive potential to turn our large buildings into power stations and we must seize the opportunity this offers to boost our economy as part of our long term economic plan."

His comments were backed by the launch of government's "The Solar Strategy" roadmap in early April, where it outlined how government-owned properties, as well as factories, supermarkets and car parks can be transformed into "solar hubs". For additional information, see April 11, 2014, article - Sun Shines on U.K. Solar Roadmap.

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