A BlackRock Real Assets-managed fund has acquired two operational solar farms from prolific German EPC ib vogt.
BlackRock has taken on the assets through its Renewable Income UK investment fund, which is focused on acquiring UK wind and solar farms.
The two projects – the 12MW Ardleigh solar farm in Essex and the 5MW Drakelow project in Derbyshire – take the total generation capacity of UK solar farms under BlackRock ownership to 146MW.
Both sites were completed in March last year and qualify under the Renewables Obligation Scheme.
Rory O’Connor, managing director and head of renewable power for Europe at BlackRock, said the group was pleased to invest in the two projects on behalf of its clients.
“This transaction represents BlackRock’s continued focus on renewable power investments, where the firm has over $2.8 billion of equity assets under management… We continue to see the UK as an attractive market for wind and solar assets where BlackRock invested in more than 45 projects,” O’Connor added.
BlackRock has previously acquired sites in the UK from Chinese developer SPI, notably the 15MW Hall Farm project in Norwich and the Grange Farm solar array in Blackpool.
The investment giant also paid £64.5 million for the assets of Renewable Energy Generation in December 2015 after the company bemoaned the “profound impact” of policy changes on its operations.