Innova has announced the signing of a 15-year corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) for the 27.8MW Elms Farm solar project, which is owned by ISG Renewables, an Innova Renewables and Schroders Greencoat joint venture.
All of the energy generated at the solar power plant, which is currently under construction and expected to be energised later this year, will be supplied to Anglian Water. Anglian Water aims to source half of its total power usage from renewable sources and achieve net zero carbon status by 2030.
Andy Peyman, head of energy sales at Innova, said the CPPA was critical for the site’s progress. ISG Renewables acquired the Elms Farm solar development in May this year as part of its ambition to finance, construct and operate 5GW of renewable energy capacity within the next three to five years.
Power balancing and shaping services will be carried out by EDF, which will ensure a reliable source of renewable power to the utility through its supplier, SSE. Director of PPA at EDF, Tom Abbott, said: “It’s great to be part of helping new renewable energy sites get built, with agreements like this playing a critical role in making it possible and contributing towards the UK achieving net zero.”
Innova’s solar portfolio grows
On 22 October Innova announced that the energisation of its Stokeford Solar Park in Dorset took place on 31 July.
Located near Bournemouth, the 28.5MWp solar plant is the third site in Innova’s current portfolio to be commissioned. It will share a connection to the SSE-operated local electricity network with the Alaska onshore wind farm, developed by Infinergy.
The joint connection “represented some unique technical and commercial complexities”, said Innova’s investment director Tom Cooledge. According to the website for Alaska Wind Farm, grid connection took longer than expected.
In 2023, Innova’s 10MWp Carn Nicholas solar PV plant in Wales, which was the first acquisition made by ISG Renewables, came online, followed in March this year by the 22.6MWp Bicker Fen solar farm.
Bicker Fen was initially developed by Innova and granted planning permission in May 2022. After completion, the solar development was handed over to Innova’s in-house asset management team.
Recently, Innova announced that it had received planning permission to expand its solar and energy storage project, Blythe Solar Farm, with an additional solar array increasing the development’s solar capacity by 16.6MW, bringing its total approved capacity to 44.3MWp of solar, alongside a 30MW battery energy storage system (BESS). Rob Parish, senior project manager at Innova, said the scheme is “on track” for energisation in 2027.
