Anesco has completed the sale of Clayhill to GRIDSERVE for an undisclosed sum, marking a major step forward in Anesco’s transition from asset owner to services provider, and further cementing GRIDSERVE’s leadership position with subsidy-free solar in the UK.
Clayhill, located in Flitwick near Bedfordshire, was the UK’s first solar farm developed free from government subsidy. Comprising 10MW of solar PV co-located with a 6MW energy storage facility, the site generates enough electricity for around 2,500 homes while saving around 4,500 tonnes of carbon annually.
Anesco will continue to provide operations and maintenance services for the site, as part of a 20-year agreement with GRIDSERVE.
Mark Futyan, Anesco CEO, commented: “Engineering a subsidy-free development at Clayhill was a landmark achievement for the industry and is something we’re very proud of. It has proven to be a solid investment and we look forward to working with GRIDSERVE to ensure Clayhill continues to generate the optimal financial and environmental returns.”
Mark continued: “Moving from being an asset owner to a services provider was always our intention and the sale of Clayhill forms a significant part of that. This transaction will fuel growth by enabling us to bring new projects into being and to expand our operations and maintenance, asset optimisation and ECO divisions. Overall, creating a truly integrated proposition for renewable energy investors.”
GRIDSERVE’s plans include sleeving some of the power generated by Clayhill for its ground-breaking Electric Forecourt® in Braintree, which forms part of its ‘Sun-to-Wheel’ model – delivering net zero carbon electric vehicle charging, powered by clean energy generated from solar power.
Jeremy Cross, Chief Commercial Officer at GRIDSERVE, said: “The addition of Clayhill to our portfolio – which marks GRIDSERVE’s first acquisition of an operational solar farm – will enable us to guarantee that the amount of energy used at our Electric Forecourt® in Braintree has been generated from zero carbon solar power.
“Our mission is to deliver sustainable energy and move the needle on climate change, and this project will help us to support the UK’s transition to net zero transport in the earliest possible timeframes.”
He added: “GRIDSERVE is in a unique position in the industry, having developed sites at York and Hull at the end of last year, with a further pipeline being built out this year, and now acquiring the only other operational solar-plus-storage project in the UK. We look forward to working with Anesco on this exciting project.”
Anesco has developed 115 utility-scale solar and energy storage projects to date, with a total capacity in excess of 750MW. To support the advancement of the UK’s subsidy-free markets, Anesco invested directly in a number of projects but is now selling these assets to focus fully on its core offering: providing full lifecycle engineering services to solar and energy storage markets.
GRIDSERVE’s inaugural Electric Forecourt® in Braintree is scheduled to open to the public later this year and marks the first in a planned roll-out of over 100 Electric Forecourts® and electric vehicle charging solutions across the UK in the coming years. Both this acquisition and the roll out of GRIDSERVE’s Electric Forecourt’s® are being supported by GRIDSERVE’s strategic partnership with Hitachi Capital UK, as announced earlier this year.
