'Unprecedented' power prices driving commercial PV interest, ROOF claims as it details 500MW pipeline

• Commercial solar firm Atrato Onsite Energy (ROOF) has developed a 496MW pipeline of assets, with the business anticipating interest in PV to rise with the increase in energy bills.

This pipeline is made of assets with varying maturation, including 55MW of operational assets, while the staying majority are new origination projects.

Certainly, the pipeline available to the firm has expanded from ₤ 318 million at its Initial Public Offering (IPO) last year to ₤ 391 million as at 1 June 2022, with the existing pipeline containing eight large scale projects with an average investment value of ₤ 15 million.

In its unaudited outcomes for the period from unification on 16 September 2021 to 31 March 2022, ROOF referenced the extension of "unprecedented wholesale electrical energy prices", with the regular monthly average EPEX spot price enhancing by 337% in the twelve month to March 2022.

The business said this then drives higher retail electricity prices, with commercial customers especially exposed to price volatility due to them not benefiting from the domestic energy cap-- which rose 54% in April.

While ROOF is mostly seeking to secure long-term, fixed power purchase contracts (PPAs) with onsite consumers - with c. 97% of its portfolio's revenue contracted through PPAs as of 31 March 2022 - it detailed exactly how it is a recipient of greater wholesale prices as it commonly exports surplus generation to the grid.

" The more significant advantage of these high prices, nonetheless, is that it drives more business consumers towards solar generation, either by means of a self-funded course or via onsite PPAs, which deliver reduced and a lot more steady energy costs than grid imports, thus enlarging the firm's addressable market," it claimed.

This echoes findings from NatWest's Sustainable Business Tracker, which recently located that 10% of SMEs are meaning to buy onsite generation by 2023. Meanwhile, Solar Energy UK introduced a Business Purchasers' Overview previously this year because of the growing interest in commercial solar as a result of the high power prices seen over the past year.

ROOF's net asset value (NAV) is ₤ 146.1 million, while its NAV per ordinary share is 97.4 p.

During the duration, the business elevated ₤ 150 million via its IPO, which it claimed made it the very first UK investment trust concentrated predominantly on commercial rooftop solar.

Post period end, the company obtained a 6.1 MW fully operational website, as well as is now in late-stage negotiations over ₤ 35 million - ₤ 45 million of pipeline assets that are expected to enclose the next three months. An additional ₤ 80 million - ₤ 90 numerous assets are presently in due diligence.

As at 31 March 2022, ROOF has 976kW of set up operational capacity - with the firm stating this is since it remains in its initial deployment stage.

The business's board is chaired by Good Energy founder Juliet Davenport OBE, who wrote in the results: "We are excited by the overview for onsite solar in the UK. We have been focused on developing the business and plan to be the partner of option for landlords as well as corporates that wish to decarbonise their estate and make use of affordable, renewable resource with minimal direct exposure to wholesale power price motion."