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| Fri, 29th May 2020 12:54:00 |
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UK’s Largest Solar Project Approved, Will Snub Government Subsidies |
Cleve Hill, the U.K.'s largest-ever solar project, received its government planning approvals this week. The question is how the 350-megawatt development proceeds from here in a large-scale solar market that has all but died out.
Located in southeastern England, along the North Kent coast, Cleve Hill is under development by Hive Energy and Wirsol. The developers say they will not seek any government subsidy and will not participate in the contracts for difference (CFD) auction next year.
The project, which may include a substantial amount of battery storage, will be built near the existing grid infrastructure used by the London Array offshore wind farm, once the largest in the world.
Cleve Hill is targeting completion in 2022, Giles Redpath, CEO of Hive Energy, said in a statement. A spokesperson told GTM that a final investment decision would be made ahead of construction work beginning in spring 2021.
Despite a reputation for gray skies, the U.K. enjoyed a boom period for large-scale solar between 2013 and 2017, rivaling Germany as the hottest market in Europe. But the policy program underpinning that success closed to new solar projects in March 2017, and just 385 megawatts of solar projects larger than 5 megawatts have been connected since. Britain's largest installed solar project today is around 70 megawatts.
The market's promise has never gone dark. With the economics of solar improving all the time, developers have been busy readying a project pipeline that now stands at 8 gigawatts, waiting for a clear route to market to emerge. Cleve Hill could be the project to beat that path, but many questions remain unanswered.
"It's good news that it's been approved, but it's still a long way from being realized," said Tom Heggarty, principal analyst at Wood Mackenzie's energy transition practice. "There are still many challenges in terms of closing finance for large PV projects in the U.K. The economics are still pretty marginal in the vast majority of cases."
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