RWE Supply & Trading today announces acquisition of “Kencot Hill Solar Farm”. The 37 MWp ground-mounted solar PV project will be one of the largest in the UK and is located on a disused airfield in Oxfordshire, England.
RWE Supply & Trading’s acquisition creates momentum in the development of this solar park by providing essential financial and technical support. RWE’s proven expertise in project management provides the necessary support required to connect the project developer with the end owner. RWE Supply & Trading has appointed solar construction specialist Conergy UK Ltd., part of Conergy Group, under an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract to build the park, which is expected to come online in late summer 2014.
Once constructed, RWE will sell the solar farm to Foresight Solar Fund Limited, a LSE listed fund managed by Foresight Group, a £1 billion UK based infrastructure asset manager.
Stefan Judisch, CEO of RWE Supply & Trading: “Utilising our project development, procurement and structuring skills, including expertise from RWE Innogy, we will deliver to Foresight a substantial, fully commissioned and ROC accredited solar PV park.” This finance model is very innovative: As the first such structure for RWE in the UK solar PV market, RWE is providing the crucial construction finance required to bridge the requirements of the project developer and EPC contractors of such a renewable energy project and the requirements of institutional investors into renewables. “RWE aims in future to repeat this structure, attracting additional investors and thus helping the UK and other European governments to deliver their CO2 reduction and renewables targets”, Judisch adds.
Kencot Hill is expected to generate approx. 36 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity in its first full year of operation, which will provide around 10,000 households with electricity. When compared to average conventionally generated electricity in the UK, Kencot Hill’s electricity output will help reduce CO2 emissions by 16,000 tons per year.
