RWE has made is first foray into the UK's rapidly-growing solar energy sector.
RWE has made is first foray into the UK’s rapidly-growing solar energy sector.
The company’s Supply & Trading division has purchased a 37 MWp ground-mounted solar farm project in Oxfordshire and appointed Conergy to carry out construction.
RWE says it will provide "essential financial and technical support" for the Kencot Hill solar farm, which is expected to start operating in late summer 2014. Once constructed, RWE will sell the solar farm to Foresight Solar Fund Limited, a £1 billion UK-based infrastructure asset manager.
Stefan Judisch, CEO of RWE Supply & Trading said: "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."
RWE will provide construction finance for the project, a move that will help to reduce project costs, and has pledged to repeat the finance model on future projects.
The Kencot Hill solar farm will be one of the largest in the UK and will be built on a 129 acre site on a disused airfield near Oxford. It will be equipped with 144 000 solar panels.
The UK’s PV sector grew by a record 1000 MW in 2013. NPD Solarbuzz says that installed capacity in the UK now stands at 4.52 GW, 47 per cent of which is large-scale ground-mounted solar schemes.