Renewable energy investment company Low Carbon has commissioned five new solar parks with a combined 84MW of capacity.
The installations are set to produce enough electricity to power more than 25,300 UK homes and avoid around 36,000 tonnes of CO2 a year. They include Great Wilbraham in Cambridgeshire, which at 38.1MW is the company's largest solar park to date.
The other sites are the 18.9MW solar farm a Branston in Lincolnshire, the 10.1MW Bottom Plain development in Dorset, a 9MW site at Emberton in Buckinghamshire and an 8.2MW project at Berwick, East Sussex.
All the projects have been completed in time to qualify for the Renewable Obligation Certificate (ROC) subsidy scheme, which closes to large solar farms at the end of the month. They take Low Carbon's 12-strong solar portfolio to over 270MW.
"This strong portfolio of newly commissioned sites allows us not only to deliver long-term growth, but is an example of our continued fight against the causes of climate change," said Steve Hunter, head of investments at Low Carbon. "By generating enough renewable energy to power more than 47,000 homes, we play a part in decarbonising, diversifying and securing the long-term energy supply of the UK. We look forward to expanding our portfolio even further to deliver renewable energy to more homes across the country."
In related news, Foresight Solar Fund has completed the acquisition of the 37MW Kencot solar farm, developed by Conergy and RWE on the site of a former wartime airbase in Oxfordshire.
Foresight said it now has a portfolio of 10 solar sites, all of which are ROC-qualified, and has several further large projects under consideration.
Meanwhile Solarcentury has announced it connected 225MW of solar power to the grid over the past financial year, all of which is eligible for ROCs. However, it warned that ending this support could harm the the prospects for UK solar energy.
"DECC's own data shows that solar energy could provide four per cent of UK electricity by 2020. Yet it could have been more if the government had not chosen to withdraw support for large-scale solar, just as the prospect of subsidy-free solar in 2020 was in sight," said Seb Berry, external affairs manager at Solarcentury. "Large-scale solar needs support for another few years - perhaps five - before the solar industry can work unsupported."
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