Octopus Energy picks 24% stake in Exagen in the UK; Iberdrola's 100 MW Spanish solar PV capacity coming online; Luminor Bank enlarges green guarantees for Lithuania's Green Genius by €12 million; Downing selected for Yorkshire Water's 21 MW solar build in the UK.
Octopus Energy launches new renewables fund: UK's Octopus Energy Group has launched its new renewables fund called Octopus Energy Development Partnership (OEDP) with €220 million capital, that has now made its debut investment in Exagen. The multi-million pound deal makes Octopus a 24% stakeholder in utility scale solar and storage company. The deal includes the option to purchase one of the UK's largest batteries at 500 MW/1 GWh in Midlands, England. It has also acquired 3 solar farms with onsite batteries in the Midlands and Northeast of England with a combined capacity of around 400 MW, currently under development by Exagen. The latter's development pipeline adds up to more than 2 GW of solar and battery storage projects. Once these achieve ready-to-build (RTB) stage, Octopus can invest in these.
Iberdrola commissioning 100 MW solar in Spain: Iberdrola has started the process of commissioning 2 solar power plants in Spain's Extremadura with a combined capacity of 100 MW. The Majada Alta and San Antinio projects are located in the Cáceres town of Cedillo and comprise around 250,000 solar panels to generate 156,000 MWh electricity annually. Iberdrola built a new encapsulated substation of only 300 m² on site to evacuate power generated and the same will also serve another 375 MW solar PV plant. With these 2 projects, Iberdrola counts its operational renewable energy plants in Extremadura as 20 or 3,867 MW out of which 12 solar plants account for 47%.
€12 million for green projects in Lithuania: Green Genius of Lithuania and Luminor Bank have agreed on enlarging the limit of green guarantees to €12 million under their 3rd agreement for the same. Green Genius explains that green guarantees are used only for green projects and these act as an 'essential incentive' for green projects in their early stages. "The green guarantees provided by the bank to the green energy developer create opportunities for faster and more stable development of green energy projects. These projects will increase the generation of green and independent energy and the region's energy security," added Green Genius CEO Rokas Bancevicius. The company operates in the space of solar, wind, biogas and hydrogen technologies.
Yorkshire Water picks Downing for 21 MW solar: Investment and asset manager Downing LLP will develop, design, build and operate around 21 MW solar PV capacity for UK's water utility Yorkshire Water. To be developed for £25 million, this capacity will be spread across 28 sites across Yorkshire. For Downing, this is its 2nd successful tender award from a UK regulated utility company.
This solar capacity will be consumed by the utility on site and will contribute to its 2030 net zero pledge. Yorkshire Water says it has surplus operational land to be used for renewable energy generation due to the changes in treatment process at its sites over recent years. Power generated by 21 MW solar will generate 4% of its annual power needs while reducing its exposure to volatile energy prices and reduce operational costs of its sites.