Low Carbon And Macquarie Team Up For Dorset Solar Park
Low Carbon has announced the completion of a deal to build a new solar park at Bottom Plain in Dorset, in collaboration with Macquarie Capital.The solar park, which will consist of fixed ground-mounted solar PV panels, will have an output capacity of 10.1MW, with annual production being 9,732MWh - enough to power nearly 3,000 homes. The clean energy generated will save approximately 4,336 tonnes of carbon equivalent per annum.
Construction of the park began this month, and is expected to begin exporting electricity into the national grid in autumn 2014. Macquarie Capital is providing construction funding to the project.
Low Carbon is investing in an international portfolio of renewable energy assets including utility-scale solar PV, onshore wind, concentrated solar power (CSP) and anaerobic digestion that will amount to a combined output of more than 2.3GW clean energy. To date, Low Carbon has funded more than 206MW of UK solar assets both in construction and operation, which represents approximately 12% of the UK solar market.
John Cole, Chief Investment Officer of Low Carbon, says: "Renewable energy technologies have demonstrated substantial performance improvements and cost reductions and are now being deployed at significant scale. Companies such as Low Carbon will continue to fight to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels and increase the scale of renewable energy to support a low carbon future. Now is the right time for investors to get behind renewable energy and address two of the biggest challenges facing the UK: energy security and climate change."
"The International Energy Agency calculates that investment of $53 trillion is needed in energy infrastructure by 2035 to stand a chance of limiting climate change to the critical 2oC. There is an economic and environmental imperative to make significant private investment in renewable energy. That is what we are doing."
Mark Dooley, Head of Development Capital at Macquarie, says: "Macquarie is delighted to be able to continue to support the Low Carbon team through provision of construction funding for their UK solar projects. Macquarie's collaboration with Low Carbon demonstrates our commitment to supporting clients in the renewable energy sector."
