Commercial energy supplier SmartestEnergy has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with European solar developer Greentech for a solar PV project in Kent.
The two companies have signed a 15-year Contracts for Difference (CfD) PPA for the 26 MW Chalkpit Solar Farm in Guston, Kent. The agreement covers the pre- and post-commissioning phases of the 25-hectare project’s lifespan, which SmartestEnergy says provides “revenue security throughout its lifecycle.”
SmartestEnergy won the contract through a competitive bidding process, which will now see it purchase power from Greentech’s first renewable energy source in Britain.
The company said the deal “marks a foundation for future collaboration” and speaks to the “continued attractiveness” of the UK renewable energy market, largely thanks to the CfD scheme which provides investment and revenue certainty for new projects.
“Projects like Chalkpit demonstrate the strength and attractiveness of the UK renewable energy market, and highlight the important role buyers play in helping developers bring renewable energy generation to market,” said James Clark, business development manager at SmartestEnergy.
Yaw Ofori, managing director UK at Germany-based Greentech, said Chalkpit “marks the starting point for our long-term investment strategy in the UK, which we see as an important energy market to have a stake in, contributing to the decarbonisation of the UK electricity grid.”
Greentech said it would like to develop more CfD-backed projects.
The CfD has proven to be a key driver of renewable energy sources in the UK, particularly solar energy. Solar energy portal heard earlier this year that it was a “very attractive” stimulus that created optimism for the market. The government recently announced that the exercise price for the upcoming auction round, Allocation Round 8 (AR8), will also be stay the same as they were in AR7 at £75/MWh.
You can read more of our coverage of the CfD scheme here.
