International energy producer Voltalia has begun construction on its 49.9MW photovoltaic (PV) power plant located in southeast England.
The electricity produced at this site, which aims to begin production in the second half of 2025, will be sold to companies under long-term sales contracts, such as Corporate Power Purchase Agreements (PPA).
Sébastien Clerc, CEO of Voltalia, said: “Voltalia has a portfolio of seven solar and storage facilities in operation or under construction in the UK with a total capacity of 260 megawatts. Our pipeline of future projects will fuel growth in the country, as well as service activities for third-party customers.”
Voltalia’s UK portfolio
Voltalia has been growing a substantial solar and battery storage portfolio across the UK and Ireland over the past few years.
Most recently, in November 2023, Co-op signed a 15-year Corporate PPA with Voltalia for the entire output of the 34MW Eastgate solar farm.
Eastgate solar farm aims to deliver power to the consumer co-operative’s estate, which includes food stores, distribution centres and Funeralcare homes across the UK.
Early construction of the 62,500 solar panel farm located near Scarborough in North Yorkshire has already begun, and the asset is expected to begin operations in 2025.
Once fully operational, the solar farm’s maximum capacity is expected to provide enough electricity to supply up to 7.5% of Co-op’s total electricity needs per year.
In September 2022, the company won a Contracts for Difference (CfD) to develop two solar projects in the UK with a combined capacity of 90MW.
The projects, which will both be situated in Dorset at Clifton Farm near Yeovil and Higher Stockbridge in Sherbourne, will have a capacity of 45MW.
The CfD has been awarded in a recent Allocation Round 4 (AR4) auction and will support Voltalia’s expansion into the UK’s renewables sector. The contract lengths have been revealed as 20 years and will aim to be delivered in 2024/25.
Voltalia in Ireland
In addition to establishing a prominent portfolio in England, Voltalia has also partaken in several solar projects in Ireland, which have come to 338MW worth of energy.
In August 2023, Voltalia was selected to build and maintain 230MW of solar farms across four sites in Ireland.
Chosen by the Ireland-headquartered independent power producer (IPP) Power Capital Renewable Energy, Voltalia will build, operate and maintain four solar farms (currently under construction) for 15 years.
The four solar farms consist of the Lysaghtstown plant in County Cork (131 MW), the Tullabeg plant in County Wexford (83.9MW), the Painestown plant in County Meath (9.3MW), and the Beaulieu plant in County Louth (6.6MW)
The smaller sites are due to be completed this year, whilst the larger ones are set to go live in 2024. All four solar PV plants will sell their power through long-term contracts within the tech sector.
A month prior to this selection, Voltalia was also chosen to build a 108MW solar farm in Ireland by ESB and Bord na Móna.
ESB and Bord na Móna, both of which are semi-state-owned companies, selected Voltalia as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the solar farm at Timahoe North, County Kildare.
The Timahoe North solar farm is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2024. It will be the first large-scale solar project developed under ESB and Bord’s solar co-development agreement, which aims to deliver up to 500MW solar farms based on Bord na Móna lands.
This joint venture will see solar farms created across four midlands locations in Kildare, Offaly and Roscommon.