anesco

Sarah Hitchcox, development and policy director at Anesco, sets the record straight over the developer’s famed Clayhill project – the UK’s first subsidy-free solar farm – and discusses the company’s vision for the future.

West Sussex County Council recently followed up Anesco’s completion of the UK’s first subsidy-free solar farm in September last year with its own, deploying 7.4MW alongside a battery to make the project viable. While some have argued the project offers little in discussions of the future solar landscape in the UK, local authority projects are being completed now and could bridge the gap in deployment until private investors get moving.

Food wholesaler Philip Dennis Foodservice has installed energy storage units totalling over 4MW at its Barnstaple offices in an effort to generate revenue from grid services, rather than making savings from behind-the-meter activity.

‘Hybrid’ solar plus storage developments should become a key new area of interest for investors according to Anesco after the company’s subsidy-free solar project was used in the Balancing Mechanism (BM) for the first time last week.

Eelpower has continued its purchasing relationship with Anesco, acquiring the recently-completed 20MW Rock Farm battery from the developer – it’s second since November 2017.

Premier Inn owner Whitbread is to nearly double its solar capacity, installing rooftop PV on a further 70 of its hotels.

Renewables developer Anesco has set its sights on bringing up to 380MW of battery storage to market by 2020.

Mis-selling, insurance risk and the failure of associated costs to fall alongside sell prices could hold back greater battery storage deployment, a panel discussion has revealed.

Nominations for the Solar Power Portal and Energy-Storage.News Awards 2018 are now open, and returning once again is the Ground-mount Solar Project of the Year category.

The economics of solar-and-storage in the UK are being proven, Anesco has said.