John Laing Environmental Assets has acquired its fifth anaerobic digestion (AD) plant. The fund entered the AD market last August and now has 25MW, accounting for almost tenth of its renewable energy asset base. The company has indicated it will target AD in the hunt for better yields in the face of rising competition in Read more…

J-Power and Kansai Electric Power will take a 41% equity stake in Innogy’s Triton Knoll wind farm, being built around 20 miles of the Lincolnshire coast. The 860MW wind farm is expected to commission in 2021 and cost £2bn. Onshore work has already started, with offshore construction due to start next year. The project has Read more…

Next Energy Solar Fund has bought two portfolios of rooftop solar PV. Totalling 1.15MW across 282 roofs, the fund paid £3.6m. That represents a significant premium on NESF’s recent deals for ground-mount solar. Last month the firm acquired 10 solar farms with a total capacity of 66.8MW for £42.2m. The because the assets are mostly Read more…

Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management are set to acquire the John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF) for £1.45bn following an offer made last month. Dalmore and Equitix currently manage about £6.5bn of UK assets, mostly for pension funds. JLIF has investments in numerous energy and infrastructure projects. It said the deal represents a 23.6% premium Read more…

UK renewable power generation output increased in 2017, driven largely by more wind power capacity and higher wind speeds. That led to renewables topping 29% of the generation mix, up from 24.5% in 2017, according to latest government data. Renewable generation capacity now tops 40GW. The UK’s high carbon price continues to drive coal off Read more…

West Sussex County Council has appointed Anesco to provide operations and maintenance across its solar PV portfolio. The authority has a mix of commercial and domestic PV as well as solar farms and plans to install panels at a further 60 schools. It has also recently developed a large scale battery storage project – and Read more…

Government has confirmed that the next contracts for difference (CfD) auction will take place in May 2019, with auctions to follow every two years. The aim is to deliver between 1GW and 2GW of offshore wind throughout the 2020s, said Beis, with other less mature technologies also able to bid for support contracts. The government Read more…

Warm, still weather and high gas prices hit SSE’s operating profits for the three months to 30 June. The company said while warmer than average temperatures (1.5 degrees centigrade higher than the 30 year average) led to higher snow melt and increased hydro output 25% year-on-year, hydro generation was still 20% lower than expected. Warm Read more…

John Laing Infrastructure Fund is mulling a takeover offer from Dalmore Capital and Equitix Investment Management. The listed fund, which has investments in numerous hospitals and local authority projects, said the offer would represent a 21% premium on its share price at close of trading Friday, valuing the deal, should it go ahead at around Read more…

Consultancy Eunomia has developed a map showing grid constraints and opportunities for developers using the Renewable Energy Planning Database (REPD). In a new report, the firm says developers should form consortia to ease grid access and reduce their costs. The report outlines the sometimes challenging process developers currently face for connection agreements, and the costs Read more…

Government should prioritise energy efficiency and keep investing in renewable energy and flexibility to deliver a decarbonised economy at lowest cost, the National Infrastructure Commission, an executive agency of HM Treasury, has recommended. In a wide ranging report, the Commission urged ministers to quickly make decisions to avoid locking in higher cost outcomes. Should government Read more…

Next Energy Solar Fund has acquired 10 solar farms with a total capacity of 66.8MW for £42.2m. The plants, located in the South West, take NESF’s operating portfolio to 689.4MW. Six of the solar farms earn 1.6 Rocs, the remainder earn Fits between 7.71p/kWh and 10.34p/kWh. All were connected to the grid between 2012 and Read more…

John Laing’s environmental infrastructure fund (JLEN) has added a further 10MW of anaerobic digestion (AD) plant to its books. The fund has acquired Egmere Energy Limited and Grange Farm Energy Limited for around £36m. The 5MW Egmere plant, located in North Norfolk, predominantly produces biomethane for gas grid injection, and has a 500kW CHP engine. It earns Read more…

Ecotricity is pushing its power as suitable for vegans, because its generation, largely wind and solar, contains no animal by-products. The company said it will soon launch a vegan gas product too, using grass in anaerobic digesters (AD). Ecotricity says it is the only supplier registered with the Vegan Society, and states that none of Read more…

The government has confirmed it will not offer bill payer support to the proposed tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay. Energy secretary Greg Clark said the decision not to back the scheme was made on grounds of cost and value. He told the Commons “the programme of six tidal lagoons, the first of which is Swansea Read more…

Corporate PPAs were seen as the great hope of post-subsidy renewables. But they have perhaps received a disproportionate amount of attention in relation to the volumes of new renewables they have actually delivered, according to Aurora’s Hugo Batten and Dimitri Kyriazis. They argue that market opacity, high transaction costs and a lack of end-to-end expertise are hurdles to Read more…