NextEnergy Solar Fund And Anglian Water Services Sign Large On-site PV Framework
NextEnergy Capital, Investment Manager for the FTSE250-listed NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) and Anglian Water Services have, following a competitive tender process, today signed an agreement through which NextEnergy Capital will design, build, operate, and own over 35MW of solar assets and sell the power directly to Anglian Water through private wire for a 25-year period. The solar assets will be financed and owned by NESF, an investment company focused on the UK solar sector with over 700MWp of operating plants.
The deal is the largest on-site solar PV generation tender to date in the UK solar market and shows the continued growth of the commercial and industrial solar generation landscape. NextEnergy Capital is a leader in delivering subsidy-free installation of solar generation, and views commercial and industrial areas as key growth markets.
Anglian Water has set the ambitious target of becoming a net zero carbon organisation by 2030 by finding more sustainable ways of meeting an increasing demand for services created by a growing population, whilst taking into account the effects of climate change in the region. This is a huge challenge and generating renewable energy is a vital part of delivering against this significant ambition
As a result of this partnership, NESF will own and operate a portfolio of solar sites on Anglian Water's operational sites that will help Anglian Water achieve its ambitious target of net zero carbon by 2030. This partnership comes in the month after water industry regulator Ofwat noted that Anglian Water is one of the sectors' leading companies in delivering services for customers.
Ross Grier, NextEnergy UK Managing Director said: “We are delighted to be working with Anglian Water as it extends its solar roll-out and ambitious targets of achieving Net Zero by 2030. This is an excellent fit for us, adds long-term contracted revenues to NESF's portfolio and supplements the growth of our subsidy-free build programme. We remain excited by the growth of zero-subsidy generation, and the diverse opportunities that the UK solar market will present in the coming years.”
David Riley, Anglian Water Head of Carbon Neutrality said:
“We never stop looking for ways to improve what we do, to keep us ahead in a changing world, and our renewables ambition will see us integrate solar and energy storage to help us in our journey to becoming a more sustainable business.
This partnership with NextEnergy is a win-win for us and our customers and takes us a step closer to becoming a net zero carbon organisation.
Ours is the driest region in the UK, particularly vulnerable to climate change and one of the fastest growing parts of the country.
As we tackle these challenges, we are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint including increasing the amount of renewable energy we generate to help power our operations.
We look forward to working with Next Energy UK as we deliver our programme and deliver further benefits for our customers, the community and the environment.”