Luxcara has bought its way into the UK solar market after acquiring five sites from Conergy in a deal that adds 34.4MWp to the German asset manager’s portfolio of renewable energy developments.
The total value of the sites is around £40 million which was paid for using Luxcara’s third renewable energies fund via Flaveo Infrastructure Europe, launched in October last year. All of solar projects were developed and built by Conergy, which will continue to operate and maintain the sites:
- Thorne (Moorends) 4.99 MW
- Llancadle (Llancadle) 4.99 MW
- Arkwright (Duckmanston) 7.48 MW
- Hafod (Aberbeeg) 7.73 MW
- Teyrdan (Teyrdan) 9.3 MW
Dr Alexandra von Bernstorff, managing partner of Luxcara, said: “We have acquired an attractive project portfolio from Conergy. Each of the five facilities has been developed and built to the highest standard of quality, which is key to ensuring our long-term returns.
“As the solar facilities were all built on brownfield sites and exhausted farmland, the projects will also have a sustainably positive impact on the environment.”
All five of the developments were connected to the grid in December 2015 and benefit from the higher rate of feed-in tariff. They also offer the surrounding communities a range of benefits through what Luxcara calls “the selection of special non-profit company forms”.
In addition to solar, the third sub-fund to be launched by Luxcara also targets wind projects, with the first of those acquired immediately after first closing in September. The fund is exclusively intended for institutional investors who can invest through subordinate bonds, securitisations and direct investments and is already targeting other projects in the UK.