Asset investment manager AlphaReal has acquired five solar energy projects across the UK in transactions worth over £160 million.
The largest of the acquisitions is the 66.6MWp Bockingfold Solar Farm, a ground-mounted solar PV power station located in Kent. Voltalia developed the project and, in 2023, secured a 15-year contract for difference (CfD) at the fifth auction, when a total of 56 solar projects with a combined capacity of 1,928MW were secured.
In December 2024, the consented development was taken on by London-headquartered Elm Trading, and it is currently under construction. It is expected to begin generating power in mid-2026.
AlphaReal has also committed capital to three solar power plants developed by European Energy. The sites, located in Bath, Aberdeenshire and Lincolnshire, have a combined capacity of 114MWp. They are all expected to start generating electricity in the first half of 2025.
The 19MW Marksbury Plain Solar Farm in Bath is covered by a multi-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Asahi Europe & International (AEI), the international branch of the food and beverage company, Asahi Group Holdings.
The final acquisition covers a 4.98MWp operational solar power station in Wiltshire that was developed by Q Energy Europe GmbH. AlphaReal said the asset has a revenue profile that includes a further 11.5 years of index-linked subsidies.
The two have an existing relationship: in June last year, Q Energy announced it had sold a 33MW under-construction solar PV plant in Northeast England to AlphaReal. The Whinfield High Grange solar development was one of two of AlphaReal’s solar assets to obtain a CfD in allocation round six (AR6) last year.
Raza Ali, investment director for renewable infrastructure at AlphaReal explained that the investor only takes full ownership positions in its acquisitions and that it only takes on assets that have land, planning and grid connection dates secured.
AlphaReal’s renewable infrastructure offerings follows a diversified UK-wide investment approach where it primarily invests in onshore wind and ground mount solar assets. In AR6 it also secured a CfD for its 12.9MWp CE Tacher Turbines onshore wind power station.
