Gresham House secures fourth solar farm from Anesco in a partnership worth over £100 million. Image: Anesco.
Gresham House has acquired a 20MW Devon-based solar farm from Anesco as part of a partnership worth over £100 million.
The £7.3 billion London-based asset management firm secured the 20MW solar farm dubbed Beavor Grange from Anesco as part of a three-year development and construction partnership signed in January 2021.
The transaction was billed as Anesco's largest, with Gresham House financing the assets and Anesco providing all the engineering, procurement and construction services.
“Through our partnership with Gresham House, we are delighted to be supporting the UK’s transition to cleaner, greener energy,” said Sarah Webb, business development director at Anesco.
“Beavor Grange is the fourth large-scale solar project we have progressed to the investment-ready stage for Gresham House, and we will be continuing to add to that total very soon.”
The ground-mount solar farm will cover an area of just under 28 hectares and have a lifespan of 40 years.
Each solar site in Anesco’s 600MW pipeline new solar and storage projects that are at the planning and ready to build stage has an advanced biodiversity management plan. Other sites such as High Meadow aims to achieve a 173% biodiversity net gain, whereas Moat Farm is anticipated to achieve 216%. Beavor Grange will be developed in accordance with the biodiversity plan.
The biodiversity net gains will be achieved through the planting of hedgerows, wildflower meadows and the introduction of other measures designed to create habitats for local wildlife and at-risk bird species.
Work on the Beavor Grange site will begin in 2023 and is expected to be fully developed over the course of 34 weeks.
“The site has been sensitively developed with attention to biodiversity enhancement as well as ensuring quality construction and efficient operation,” said Wayne Cranstone, investment director at Gresham House.
“We continue to support new build solar to increase the UK’s drive towards self-sufficiency in renewable energy, and so we were particularly delighted to have been awarded three Contracts for Difference on three of the solar parks under this partnership in the government’s recent CFD auction round, AR4.”
Anesco's current 600MW pipeline includes a 20MW solar farm in Derbyshire, a 50MW solar farm in Lincolnshire and two battery storage facilities with a combined capacity of 100MW that are being built for two investors.