Bluefield splashes £13.9 million on 13.5MWp of UK solar

• Bluefield Solar Income Fund (BSIF) has made its first move of the year with the acquisition of three operational UK solar farms

The acquisitions are the fund’s first of 2020, and were completed on 20 January 2020.

Two of the farms – Gretton and Thornton –  are located in England, with the third site – Wormit – located in Scotland.

The farms provide 13.5MWp, with a 1.3 Renewable Obligation Certification capacity rate, the announcement of the acquisitions states.

They were acquired for a cash consideration of £13.9 million, including working capital, funded from BSIF’s revolving credit facility.

In September, BSIF heralded the return of subsidy-free utility-scale solar in the UK, and that it reached a “select number of agreements”, and was working through a viable pipeline of potential projects with its developer and contractor partners.

Then in October, it signed a PPA with Limejump for the management of the power sale for four solar farms owned by BSIF, using Limejump's Virtual Power Platform (VPP).

BSIF isn't the only fund targetting utility-scale subsidy-free solar in the UK. NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF) connected its maiden subsidy-free site in November, before switching on what it claims is the UK's largest subsidy-free site a month later. 

NextEnergy Capital's CEO Mike Bonte-Friedheim spoke with sister site PV Tech earlier in the month about the lessons NextEnergy has learned from its maiden subsidy ventures. 

Solar Power Portal has contacted BSIF for comment on its acquistions.