Lightsource bp UK Adds 215MW of New Solar Capacity Ahead of ROC Deadline

Lightsource Renewable Energy, Europe’s leading solar energy generator, has connected more than 215MW of new capacity ahead of the 1.3 Renewable Obligations Certificate (ROC) deadline.

In another busy year for Lightsource, the company connected 40 new solar farm sites — ranging from 3.5MW to 27.6MW — with 26 sites connected under the ROC regime and a further 14 sites under the Feed-in Tariff scheme.

March and December proved to be the busiest months for Lightsource since the last ROC deadline — with 14 new sites connected in March and a massive 23 projects connected in December.

Despite uncertainty across the UK solar industry, Lightsource has had plenty to celebrate in 2016 including the connection of Europe’s largest floating solar array on Thames Water’s QE2 reservoir, the completion of a 27.6MW project in North Norfolk and signing a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Belfast International Airport.

Looking ahead to the rest of 2016, Lightsource will continue to work with major energy users to grow its pipeline of private-wire PPA projects. Construction is also due to begin on the 14MW Charity Farm scheme — one of the few successful solar projects in the Contracts for Difference auction.

Nick Boyle, CEO at Lightsource, said: “It’s been a challenging 12 months for the UK solar industry and the next 12 promise to be just as tough. Our skill set is in large-scale solar plants with more than 200 sites developed, financed and built. We remain focussed on reaching a point of grid parity for our projects in the coming years and I’m confident that the skills, determination and hard work of our team will lead to further successes for Lightsource.”