EDF Power Solutions has today (3 July) announced that it has taken on a major solar development from Low Carbon.
The Gate Burton Energy Park is a 500MW solar PV power plant currently under development. Owing to its size, the project is classed as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP); it was awarded planning approval in July 2024 as part of energy secretary Ed Miliband’s NSIP approval blitz in the days following his appointment. The site will also include a co-located battery energy storage system (BESS), although it has not yet been announced how much capacity this BESS will have.
EDF Power Solutions – formerly known as EDF Renewables – currently has a number of other solar and storage NSIPs in its portfolio.
These include the 800MW Springwell Solar Farm, which is currently in the examination stage of the development consent order (DCO) process, having been accepted for examination by the planning inspectorate in December of last year, as well as the Rosefield Solar Farm, a solar NSIP proposal that has not had its capacity revealed but has secured a grid connection of up to 500MW. The Rosefield Solar Farm is expected to submit a DCO application later this year.
Roy Bedlow, founder and chief executive at Low Carbon, called the sale a “milestone” that “marks the next step forward for Gate Burton” and will “help put the UK on the path to achieving its Clean Power 2030 ambition”.
He added: “With a strong pipeline in development, we remain firmly committed to supporting the UK’s clean energy ambitions and building a resilient, sustainable future”.
Matthew Boulton, Director of Solar, storage and private wire for EDF Power Solutions UK, agreed, stating that adding the project to EDF’s portfolio is “a great example of how we [EDF] are scaling up solar and storage to meet the UK’s future energy needs”.
Low Carbon’s market moves
Low Carbon currently has a 16GW development portfolio across the UK, Europe, and North America, and this is not the first major asset sale that Low Carbon has made in recent weeks.
Last month, the independent power producer (IPP) sold a pipeline of eight ready-to-build solar PV projects with a combined capacity of 350MW, as well as two energy storage projects with a total 85MW capacity, to French energy major TotalEnergies.
Updates to Companies House revealed that at least three of these projects – the 39MW Callie’s Solar Farm, the 49.9MW Longlands Solar Farm, and the 34MW Two Tree Solar Farm – secured Contracts for Difference (CfDs) in the 2024 Allocation Round 6, with the 49.9MW Parham Airfield Solar Farm landing a contract in the 2022 Allocation Round 4.
More recently, Low Carbon has been connecting its own held assets to the UK grid. Last week, the company announced that it had successfully energised four new solar PV power plants – the 21MW Pepperhill project, the 19MW Long Meadow development, the 49.9MW Feldon Vale solar PV plant, and the 39MW Birch plant – the latter of which also features a 30MW co-located BESS.
