Image: PACE.
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) has submitted its first two subsidy-free UK projects into planning.
Both will include the ability to co-locate energy storage, and will enter operation in the middle of 2021, subject to planning and financing.
The two 20MWp solar projects in Norfolk will sit on agricultural land, with one a site known as Three Bridges sitting seven miles north-east of Dereham and the second known as Burgate eight miles north of Norwich.
PACE has a development pipeline of 1GW of solar projects in the UK and abroad, with advanced sites in Canada and Spain, as well as a project set to start operations in Poland.
Alex Ross, director of PACE developments in the UK, said the company develops bespoke grid and constraint analysis techniques to select projects, and has now evaluated nearly 2GW of grid capacity and projects.
“PACE’s UK project pipeline is now accelerating with a target of constructing over 300MW in the UK in the next three years,” Ross continued.
The UK-headquartered international developer of utility scale solar and battery storage projects was set up by Ross together with co-founder and managing director Rob Denman in 2017, and has since grown to have a senior team of four along with a wider international development team.
Denman said: “We have an experienced and ambitious senior team who have been building a platform and systems in multiple markets to enable us to grow as the global demand for clean energy increases, with a focus on utility scale solar and either co-located or stand-alone battery projects – depending on the regulations and economics.
“Submitting our first subsidy-free projects into planning in the UK is a great achievement and we are targeting mid-2021 for both Three Bridges Solar and Burgate Solar to be constructed. Our 80MW Canadian projects should also achieve this milestone in 2021, and we are expecting to have additional projects ready for planning in the UK before the end of this year.”