British Solar Renewables (BSR) has announced that it has acquired the Little Crow solar and storage project from INRG.
The project, which is located in Lincolnshire, will feature a 150MWp solar installation plus a 60MW battery energy storage system (BESS).
The project, which is classified as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) owing to the size of the solar portion of the development, was awarded planning consent by the Planning Inspectorate in 2022, the second solar NSIP to gain consent under the system. The development also secured a contract for difference (CfD) in the most recent auction, allocation round 6, which took place in autumn 2024.
Following this transaction, Little Crow is now the largest site in BSR’s portfolio. BSR will build and operate the project; no date for the commencement or completion of construction has yet been revealed.
Real estate firm JLL, who advised INRG on the sale of the project, noted that this was the first advisor-led consented NSIP transaction in the UK, and added that this highlights the increasing maturity of the UK solar market and the strong demand for large scale NISP assets.
Tim Humpage, CEO of BSR, said the firm was “thrilled” to have reached the milestone of taking on Little Crow as a BSR project, adding that the company is excited to “see it fully come to life through our design and construction.”
BSR’s 7000MW ambition
BSR has set an ambitious target of constructing and operating 7000MW of renewable energy capacity by 2027, and spent much of last year working towards this target. The company secured planning permission for four solar developments in 2024, spread across the UK and with a variety of sizes.
The company landed planning consent for the 21MWp Park Farm Solar Park in May 2024, having secured planning permission for the similarly sized Town Farm Solar Park in January. Both of these are set to be located in the county of Suffolk.
In June, permission was granted for the Dengie Solar Park, a 19MW solar development in Essex, having been refused permission at its first attempt to secure planning permission in 2023. At the tail end of 2024, BSR secured planning permission for another solar development, announcing in December that it had been awarded consent for a second Essex-based park, the 49.9MW Knowl Green Solar Park in Braintree.
Last June also saw BSR complete its first portfolio financing raise. The facility was completed for a five-asset portfolio spread between the UK and Australia with a combined solar generation of 132GWh annually, and it was financed by the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Lloyds Bank.
