Lloyds Banking Group has signed a ten-year corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with independent energy producer Low Carbon for UK solar.
During the ten-year agreement, Lloyds plans to purchase 50 GWh of clean electricity annually, generated from two of Low Carbon’s UK projects.
These projects include the company’s 49 MW Meadow Solar Farm in Hampshire and the 23 MW Pepperhill Solar Farm in Staffordshire.
The investment from Lloyds Banking Group means that both solar farms will now develop vital improvements to support nature, biodiversity and local wildlife, in line with the recent 10% Biodiversity Net Gain requirements, which came into effect in England in February 2024.
This includes the addition of species-rich grassland and wildflower hedgerows to support pollinators, new British native woodland plantings and essential foraging and refuge areas for local wildlife.
In addition, as a long-term partner of Low Carbon’s £540 million multi-bank financing facility, Lloyds is also supporting the construction of a 1GW portfolio of solar projects in the UK and the Netherlands.
Dave Blott, director of future ways of working at Lloyds Banking Group, said: “The first electricity from these solar farms will be delivered in 2025, helping us accelerate our transition to using cleaner, renewable energy.
“We are committed to reducing the carbon emissions we generate from our own activities to help Britain prosper, and this PPA will help us achieve this ambition.”
Low carbon in Britain
Global renewable energy company Low Carbon has already established itself as a leader in solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Britain.
Notably, in January 2024, the company achieved financial close on its UK 385MW portfolio of solar and co-located battery storage projects. Low Carbon confirmed that 290MW of the portfolio will be specifically solar, meaning that 95MW of the capacity will be co-located BESS with a two-hour duration.
The projects, scheduled for construction in early 2024, will be delivered by international EPC contractor Equans through its subsidiary Bouygues Energies and Services and Elmya, while Trina Storage will supply the portfolio’s BESS units.
In the same month, Low Carbon also signed optimization agreements with Habitat Energy, Flexitricity and EDF for the four co-located BESS involved in this portfolio.
The company confirmed that this agreement would see the three companies dynamically optimize batteries in different markets based on a revenue share model at the BESS sites Low Carbon’s Meadow (10MW), Sandon Brook (35MW), Fern Brook (20MW) and Birch (30MW).
With the first system set to come online in early 2025, the four sites will accommodate intermittent renewable energy generation and use the BESS as a method to provide flexibility to the electricity grid.
