Self-detoxifying fossil supermajor Shell has confirmed an understanding with solar developers Island Green Power and Clearstone Energy to pursue up to 800MW of PV farms across the UK.

Island Green Power provides the bulk of new capacity, contributing a likely 700MW at earmarked sites.  Many will feature co-located batteries, up to grid-scale.

England’s south east will be the focus of co-developments with Clearstone Energy.  Its likely 100MW of cumulative export capacity will also feature utility-scale storage at one or more sites.

No timelines are set for the understandings, and all developments are understood to be contingent on agreed financing coming forward.

Shell UK chairman David Bunch said, “We will work with both Island Green Power and Clearstone Energy to deliver high-quality solar PV projects to supply more of our UK customers with renewable power”

Island Green Power was recently revealed as the developer behind plans to set up a total of 1GWp of PV arrays on the sites of two former EdF coal-burning power stations at Cottam and West Burton in Nottinghamshire.

At 600MW and 400MW respectively, Nottinghamshire’s two solar mega-farms would both exceed the UK’s biggest array to date, Hive Energy and Wirol Energy’s 350 MW, £ 450 million PV farm at Cleve Hill, near Faversham in north Kent.

Three years in planning before winning approval in May 2020, Cleve Hill required direct sign-off by BEIS as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project, exceeding 100MWp.

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