UK private equity firm Octopus Investments has funded the installation of 11 large-scale photovoltaic (PV) plants in the UK all constructed in time to beat the 1 August deadline when solar feed-in tariffs (FITs) are changed.
Lightsource Renewable Energy developed the sites which utilised a combined total of 118,000 solar panels and have a joint capacity of 30MW. All sites have been connected to the national grid, the company said.
Paul Latham, managing director of Octopus Investments, said, 'We have been able to deliver these sites with finance from [venture capital trusts] and [enterprise investment scheme] funds which have attracted many small scale investors. When the deadline for FITs qualification was brought forward, it posed some significant challenges and there was a lot of gloom amongst funders and developers. Whilst some investment companies withdrew, we held our nerve. Our approach was to look at what could be built within the timescale to qualify for the scheme.'
Nick Boyle, CEO of Lightsource Renewable Energy added, 'It is particularly pleasing to know that our hard work has paid off. By identifying the sites we knew could complete in time and knowing that our funding was in place from gave us confidence to push ahead. As a result, we are now the leading company in the sector and we're looking forward to further developments in the near future funded by Octopus.'
The projects include the construction of one of the UK's largest solar farms in just five weeks and also the installation of the largest roof-mounted system in the country. Paul Latham and Nick Boyle spoke to NewNet at the start of this week explaining their strategy for solar development in the UK after the change in FITs comes into force.