uk solar

Following on from their presentation at Solar Media’s recent UK Solar Summit, Statkraft UK’s senior solar developer Charlotte Healey takes a look at the role solar can have in ESG.

A 49.9MW solar project being developed by BayWa r.e. and Grüne Energien Solar in South Gloucestershire has received planning permission.

Power prices are continuing to boost solar asset value, with Foresight Solar Fund reporting its net asset value (NAV) per share, EBITDA and consolidated revenues jumping over the first six months of 2022, but the fund said prices are unsustainably high currently.

Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust (DORE), who entered the solar market in 2021, has unveiled a net asset value (NAV) total return of 14.1% for a six-month period as it boosts its renewable portfolio.

“For one project, if it was the exact same scheme, supplier prices and everything, had we signed a deal in February 2022, just on the exchange rate alone, it would’ve been £2 million cheaper,” said Patrick Doyle, head of energy business development at Bouygues.

“Current energy support systems are centred around power generation. If you are a power generation company on these support mechanisms, why would you think about doing energy storage?” said Mark Sommerfield, director of policy at REA.

“It is going to become socially unacceptable for businesses to not to have solar on their roofs in the short to medium-term,” said Shaun Beattie, sales director of BeBa Energy, at the UK Solar Summit.

“There are grounds for hope” within the introduction of a Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme for existing renewables, according to Solar Energy UK’s CEO Chris Hewett.

MSD Ireland and state-owned Irish electric utility ESB have launched Ireland’s “largest self-generation solar project” at Ballydine, Co Tipperary.

The United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) has emphasised the need to scale solar generation capacity on warehouse roofs in order to tackle the ongoing energy crisis.