Two solar parks have been purchased by Fengate Capital Management in a deal worth almost £55 million (C$110 million), representing the Canadian firm’s first investment in the UK renewables market.
The 39MW Raventhorpe site in North Lincolnshire has become the largest solar installation in Fengate’s portfolio and has been bought alongside the smaller Roanhead site in Cumbria, which produces 7MW. Both parks were developed by Kinetica Solar and WElink Energy and have been generating power since March 2015. 'Big Four' consultancy firm EY advised both co-developers on the sale of the projects.
George Theodoropoulos, managing director and head of Fengate's infrastructure investment business, said: “As our first investment in the UK market, this is an opportunity to strengthen our relationships with market participants while providing stable, long-term returns to our investors.”
The Raventhorpe site was built at a cost of £48 million and is located near Tata Steel’s Scunthorpe plant. A deal was originally struck between Kinetica and Tata Steel that saw the steel manufacturer buy electricity from the site through a rolling PPA in order to meet its renewable energy procurement strategy.
ollowing the recent uncertainty regarding the future of the Scunthorpe plant, Fengate will continue to sell power under a private wire agreement to Tata Steel until its permanent grid connection is established. Both solar parks will receive 1.4 ROCs until 2035 and once connected, the projects will sell to Statkraft Markets.
The latest purchases by Fengate join the company’s growing portfolio of renewable energy projects, including solar, hydro and biomass facilities, and takes its power generation assets to over 300MW.