Independent power producer (IPP) Elgin has broken ground on three solar PV installations in England and Wales, marking its first owned projects in Britain.
Construction of the projects with a total capacity of 112 MW has now started. These are the Aston Flamville and Thorpe projects in Leicestershire and Staffordshire (England) and the Maes Mawr project in Glamorgan in Wales.
Metlen Energy & Metals, headquartered in Greece, is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor. Outsourcing company Mitie will handle the grid connection work through its independent connection provider (ICP), subsidiary G2 Energy (acquired at the end of 2023).
The projects are part of a 1 GW pipeline of solar and energy storage projects that the company plans to implement by 2030. received a £500 million financing package from a group of banks in Aprilcovered by Solar energy portal.
Many of its projects have long-term revenue prospects thanks to victory in the UK government’s Contracts for Difference (CfD) program, which guarantees a minimum level of revenue over an extended period. In auction round 7 (AR7), which closed in February, Elgin won the second most contracts of all developers, across eight projectsa total of 382 MW. Last week we looked at what we can expect in AR8.
Solar power, battery energy storage systems (BESS) and other clean energy projects are expected to make faster progress in Britain as energy production increases. clarity on grid connection dates for the majority of projects before 2030.
Last year, Elgin commissioned its first in-house solar PV facility, the Edgeworthstown Solar Farm in Ireland (pictured above). That marked the transition to an IPP, something many developers have done in recent years as value shifted from development to execution and operation.
Elgin is also active in Australia, undertaking several major solar and storage projects (covered by our sister site Energy storage.news).
It also launched the construction of solar PV projects in Italy totaling 190 MW in Lombardy and Sicily, part of a targeted 3GW pipeline by 2030.
