First solar farm connected under CfD

Europe’s leading solar energy generator, Lightsource Renewable Energy, has announced the connection of the UK’s first Contracts for Difference (CfD) solar farm with £8.7million of funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS).

The Shropshire based Charity Farm installation that connected on June 30th, has an installed capacity of 11.94MW. The solar project was one of five to win support in the first round of CfD auctions last year.

The project was awarded a CfD with a strike price of £79.23/MWh (2012 prices) in the first 2015 auction. Two other solar PV projects awarded contracts in the round have since been cancelled.

A total of 71.55MW of solar projects were awarded CfDs in 2015 with the Lightsource project being the first solar CfD project to be delivered.

All electricity from the project will be bought by supplier Axpo UK Limited in a seven year deal worth £7.5M.

The Charity Farm installation will deliver enough clean, renewable energy to power more than 4,000 homes and will save 6,476 tonnes of carbon emissions each year. This is the equivalent to taking 1,439 cars off the roads.

Lightsource CEO, Nick Boyle, said: “We’re obviously delighted to add another successful project to our portfolio, which showcases the immense strength in depth shown by our in-house teams. Lightsource is a trusted partner and we have been able to show that we always deliver on our promises. The project also clearly demonstrates the many benefits of solar energy, above and beyond the generation of clean energy.”

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