A new exclusive long-term partnership is to see £100 million invested into new commercial & industrial (C&) rooftop solar developments in the UK.
Ortus Energy has signed the deal with Toronto-based investment firm Fiera Infrastructure, who will provide the funding. Ortus will then use the funds to develop and construct C&I solar projects on behalf of Fiera Infrastructure.
The investments in these projects is to allow businesses in the UK to access solar PV with no upfront cost through power purchase agreements (PPAs). These PPAs will be at rates that haven’t been seen in the industry since the end of feed-in tariff, the two companies claimed.
Ortus – which is part of the Integrum Power group – already has around 150MW of C&I solar projects under development. The company said that the power transmission and distribution engineering expertise it can draw on as part of the Integrum Power group positions it as a market-leader in the C&I sector.
Meanwhile, Fiera Infrastructure has a portfolio of 53MW in the UK residential and commercial space. In 2017, the company acquired a 41MWp portfolio of solar installations from Macquarie, with this including over 13,000 residential installations as well as a small number of commercial rooftop and ground-mount systems. To support the transaction, the company secured £48 million of senior financing from Legal & General.
Fiera Infrastructure's new investment signals strong confidence in the C&I space, according to Ortus' managing director Alistair Booth.
“The signing of this deal between Fiera Infrastructure and Ortus Energy shows that not only is solar PV becoming a mainstream investment for international capital, but also just how much investors value the UK market as a safe bet for future growth,” he said.