As of 1 April, 2015 developers can no longer claim support under the renewable obligation (RO) scheme for solar farms over 5MW.
The rush to connect all available >5MW projects since the government confirmed its move to remove RO support has been intense. Some industry commentators believe that the latest ROC rush could see the UK reach a total installed PV capacity of 8GW.
Below is a brief roundup of which companies managed to beat the deadline and how much they installed:
Grupotec Renewables
Grupotec Renewables completed 12 solar farms which qualified for 1.4ROCs, representing 186MW of capacity installed and connected in less than four months. The developer said that it would focus on solar farms up to 5MW and commercial rooftop installs in the vacuum left by the removal of RO support for >5MW projects.
Hive Energy
The developer managed to connect six solar farms totalling 123MW of capacity before the deadline. The sites are located at Poulshot (14.5MW), Lynt (27MW) and Roundponds (13.5MW) in Wiltshire; Folly(13.1MW) in Hertfordshire, Goldenhill (6.4MW) in Pembrokeshire and Southwick (49MW) in Hampshire.
Low Carbon
Low Carbon has confirmed that it was able to commission five new solar farms to its portfolio before the RO deadline. The new sites have a total capacity of 84.3MW.
Solarcentury
Solarcentury connected the last of its 1.4ROC solar farms on Monday, with the developer connecting 225MW to the grid this financial year. Solarcentury estimates that the solar energy generated from the new solar farms is enough to power 68,000 homes in the UK.
Conergy
Conergy was able to build and connect 12 projects across the UK in the first quarter of 2015, meaning that the developer finished 22 solar farms since the beginning of 2014 — a total of 230MW of new PV capacity.
Equinox Energy Capital
Equinox Energy Capital successfully completed the construction and grid connection of six solar farms, with a total operational capacity of 83MW. The solar assets are located in Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Cumbria.
Camborne Capital
UK developer Camborne Capital, in conjunction with US-based sPower, revealed that it was able to connect three projects before the deadline passed. The three sites represent a total capacity of 28.5MW and are located in Pembrokeshire and Caredigion.
Canadian Solar
Canadian Solar energised four solar farms before the RO deadline. The solar farms total 40.2MW of capacity and are located in Pembroke, Christchurch, Devon and Retford. The company says that it has plans to install two additional solar farms in the second quarter of 2015.
Primrose Solar
UK developer, Primrose Solar connected 145MW of solar capacity to the grid between April 1 2014 and March 31 2015. Primrose Solar successfully connected six solar farms to the grid before the RO deadline. The projects are a 9.5MW solar farm in Devon, 48MW in Hampshire, 41MW in Cornwall and 17MW, 12MW and 18MW projects in Kent.
Solar Power Portal will be continually updating this list. Get in touch if you would like your projects to be included.