Uniper, Innova Launch 100-MW UK Solar, Storage

• Uniper teams with Innova on a 100‑MWp UK solar trio, two AR6 and one AR7 CfD-backed, plus 30‑MW battery—targeting 2027 builds as Uniper assumes full ownership.

German utility Uniper is partnering with UK developer Innova on a 100-MWp solar portfolio across three English sites and will take sole ownership as they advance. The projects are Preston Solar Farm (28.8 MWp) in Taunton, Somerset; Bedworth Solar Farm (24.86 MWp) in Warwickshire; and Lower Farm (46.5 MWp) in Stafford, which includes a 30-MW battery. Preston and Bedworth won AR6 Contracts for Difference, while Lower Farm secured an AR7 CfD, offering revenue visibility with market upside.

Construction could begin as early as 2027, subject to FID, amid grid, equipment and permitting constraints. Innova’s CfD run and Uniper’s ownership create a clear route to build.

How do CfDs, ownership transfer, and storage shape Uniper–Innova’s UK solar build?

• CfDs lock in indexed strike prices for Preston and Bedworth (AR6) and Lower Farm (AR7), enabling bankable debt, lowering WACC, and anchoring FID despite grid and supply-chain uncertainty.
  
• Difference payments buffer wholesale volatility while retaining merchant upside above the strike; post-commissioning merchant tails can be hedged via Uniper’s trading desk.
  
• AR6/AR7 rules mean no CfD top-ups during negative pricing hours, pushing designs toward flexible dispatch and curtailment mitigation.
  
• Co-located storage at Lower Farm raises capture prices by time-shifting midday solar to evening peaks and reducing cannibalization risk, supporting stronger project economics alongside the CfD floor.
  
• Batteries provide ancillary and balancing-market revenues (e.g., Dynamic services, Balancing Mechanism) and can prequalify for Capacity Market income, creating a diversified revenue stack independent of the solar CfD.
  
• Separate metering and control logic allow the solar CfD to apply only to PV exports while the battery arbitrages wholesale and grid charges, avoiding settlement conflicts.
  
• Storage reduces curtailment risk at constrained nodes by soaking excess generation and optimizing export during network “red band” tariffs, improving grid compliance and availability metrics required under CfDs.
  
• Uniper’s step-up to sole ownership streamlines decision-making, accelerates procurement and EPC contracting, and aligns financing under a single balance sheet, cutting transaction friction as projects hit CfD milestones.
  
• Portfolio ownership by a utility with a large trading platform enables active hedging around the CfD reference price, PPA shaping for non-CfD volumes, and co-optimization of solar and battery dispatch.
  
• The CfD-backed cash flows determine debt sizing and tenor; storage revenues are typically modeled more conservatively, with upside left to equity, balancing risk across the portfolio.
  
• Transfer sequencing from Innova to Uniper de-risks construction by handing over to an entity experienced in route-to-market, grid compliance, and operational optimization before key CfD target windows and longstop dates.
  
• Combined, CfDs provide revenue certainty, ownership transfer delivers execution capacity, and storage unlocks flexibility—together creating a clearer path to FID and earlier build despite grid and permitting constraints.