Solar and storage platform Elgin has purchased the development arm of Amberside Energy.
Elgin has acquired 100% of the share capital of Amberside Energy’s development arm, Amberside Energy (Development) Ltd, for an undisclosed amount. The sale of the development arm will allow Amberside Energy to retain control of its primary activities, which include creating software solutions for renewable energy developers, asset managers and institutional funds. Amberside Energy has created software tools that estimate available grid capacity in Britain.
Elgin will now take control of Amberside Energy’s entire development pipeline, which totals more than 1 GW.
Elgin currently has a development pipeline of more than 16 GW of solar and co-located battery energy storage system (BESS) projects. Since its founding in 2009, Elgin has currently delivered more than 1.4 GW of projects from inception to power generation.
“This is a great strategic acquisition to grow our pipeline in the UK,” said Ronan Kilduff, CEO of Elgin.
Marc Scambler, co-founder and CEO of Amberside Energy, added: “This strategic sale allows Amberside Energy to sharpen its focus on our core competencies: creating advanced software and data analytics solutions for project development and operational asset management. By doing this we can extend our reach and deliver these solutions to a broader market beyond our internal operations.”
Big moves for Elgin
Last spring, Elgin received a major investment boost after investment company Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (CIP) acquired a majority stake in Elgin Energy for £250 million, with the aim of helping Elgin Energy deliver a 15 GW project portfolio. Amberside Energy has also previously worked with CIP, closing a deal in February 2023 in which CIP agreed to financially support a 2GW solar and storage development portfolio.
The deal follows news of a major portfolio purchase by Elgin. Earlier this month, Elgin acquired a 318 MW solar and storage portfolio from a fund managed by Foresight Group. Four of these projects, with a total capacity of 164 MW, have won contracts in the latest Contracts for Difference (CfD) award round, AR6. Construction on some of these projects is expected to begin in the first half of 2025, according to Elgin.
This acquisition marks a major change for Elgin, which seemed to have withdrawn from the market in recent years. Between early 2021 and February 2024, Elgin sold large parts of its portfolio, including the sale of a 519 MW solar PV portfolio and a 70 MW BESS project to ScottishPower Renewables in January 2021, the largest sale of a solar PV at the time portfolio in the UK. Elgin sold a further 100 MW solar portfolio to Pennon Power, a subsidiary of British water company Pennon Group, in 2023.
