Solar and infrastructure investor NextPower UK ESG (NPUK) announced on Friday (4 October) that it has signed one of the largest solar PV power purchase agreements (PPAs) in Britain with utility Anglian Water Services for the 75MW Llanwern solar PV power station in Wales. .
The Sleeved PPA is a 20-year inflation-linked contractual revenue agreement covering 90% of the electricity and all associated Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO) certificates from the Llanwern solar PV project.
Located in Newport, the PV project is recognized as one of the largest solar power plants currently operating in the UK market.
The sleeved PPA involves a four-way physical contract involving NPUK, one of the funds owned by renewable energy investor NextEnergy Capital, in the sale of energy generated from the Llanwern solar PV project to Anglian Water Services. The energy companies SSE and EDF are also involved.
EDF will purchase, balance, amplify and convert the power generated by Llanwern into base loads, which will then be transferred to AWS via its energy supplier SSE.
Michael Bonte-Friedheim, CEO and founder of NextEnergy Group, believes the structure will help provide future growth opportunities for solar energy.
“This 20-year PPA fits perfectly into NextPower UK ESG’s contracted revenue strategy and demonstrates the future growth opportunities that solar offers in providing long-term power generation to both utilities and businesses as they move towards renewable energy sources as part of their decarbonization. journey,” said Bonte-Friedheim.
NextPower UK ESG recently powered its third utility-scale solar PV asset, the 24MW Penlow project in Essex, increasing the fund’s operating capacity to 139MW. NextPower UK ESG has a portfolio of ten large-scale solar PV projects in Great Britain with a combined capacity of 497 MW.
Following NPUK’s strong opening for 2024, London-headquartered NextEnergy Capital has strengthened its global solar and energy storage pipeline. In March 2024, its solar and battery storage fund, NextPower V ESG, secured $110 million (£85.75 million) in equity funding, including £77.9 million from a European pension fund.
