Scottish Power enters solar business

• The distribution system operator for southern and central Scotland says it wants to optimize onshore renewables potential with the addition of storage and solar into its clean electricity business. The company said hybrid projects combining wind, storage and solar will become the market standard in 2021.

Grid operator Scottish Power has announced plans to expand its renewable energy business with the addition of PV into its portfolio.

The firm, a part of Spanish energy business Iberdrola, said it's likely to add a solar production element to its operational English wind farms in Carland Cross, in Cornwall; Coal Clough, in Lancashire; and Coldham, in Cambridgeshire. As the firm said in a media release, of 1,000 MW of new onshore wind projects now being developed by the business, it's anticipated that the huge majority of these sites will also have proposals for batteries or solar, or a mix of the two technologies.

Scottish Power added, it's likely to include solar production to its own wind farms in Scotland and Ireland and deploying additional PV projects. As the firm stated, along with retrofitting additional technology to existing sites, as they're already doing, their approach, moving forward, will see them supply hybrid projects as standard. In another 18 months... hybrids is going to be the new standard for all renewable energy developers.

Parent Iberdrola is implementing several large scale solar projects and testing storage alternatives coupled with renewables capacity in Spain. The business is also found in Mexico.