
Solar and storage platform Elgin has purchased the development arm of Amberside Energy.
Elgin has acquired 100% of the share capital of Amberside Energy’s development arm, Amberside Energy (Development) Ltd, for an undisclosed sum. The sale of the development arm leaves Amberside Energy to retain control of its primary business, which involves the creation of software solutions for renewable energy developers, asset managers, and institutional funds. Amberside Energy has created software tools that estimate available grid capacity in Britain.
Elgin will now take control of Amberside Energy’s entire development pipeline, which totals over 1GW.
Elgin currently has a development pipeline of over 16GW of solar and co-located battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. Elgin has currently delivered over 1.4GW of projects from origination to energisation since being founded in 2009.
“This is a great strategic acquisition to grow our pipeline across the UK,” said Ronan Kilduff, CEO of Elgin.
Marc Scambler, co-founder and CEO of Amberside Energy, added: “This strategic sale allows Amberside Energy to sharpen its focus on our core competencies—creating advanced software and data analytics solutions for project development and operational asset management. By doing so, we can extend our reach and deliver these solutions to a broader market beyond our internal operations”.
Big moves for Elgin
Last spring, Elgin received a major investment boost, after investment firm Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) acquired a majority stake in Elgin Energy for £250 million, with the intention of helping Elgin Energy to deliver a 15GW project portfolio. Amberside Energy has also previously partnered with CIP, making a deal in February 2023 in which CIP agreed to financially back a 2GW solar and storage development portfolio.
The deal follows hot on the heels of news of a major portfolio purchase by Elgin. Earlier this month, Elgin acquired a 318MW solar and storage portfolio from a fund managed by Foresight Group. Four of these projects, with a total capacity of 164MW, won contracts in most recent Contracts for Difference (CfD) allocation round, AR6. According to Elgin, construction is expected to begin on a number of these projects in the first half of 2025.
This acquisition marks something of a change for Elgin, who had previously appeared to be retreating from the market in recent years. Between early 2021 and February 2024, Elgin sold major chunks of its portfolio, including selling a 519MW solar PV portfolio and a 70MW BESS project to ScottishPower Renewables in January 2021, at the time the largest solar portfolio sale in the UK. Elgin sold a further 100MW solar portfolio to Pennon Power, a subsidiary of British water utility Pennon Group, in 2023.