Statkraft signs PPA for 80 MW solar plant, with storage in the pipeline – pv magazine International

July 10, 2024 Matthew Lynas

Statkraft has signed a 10-year PPA and optimisation agreement for an 80 MW solar farm and 8 MW battery storage facility in Yorkshire, England. The Scurf Dyke Solar Farm is one of the largest solar installations in the UK.

The Norwegian producer has signed a PPA with international investor FP Lux Group, a renewable energy fund advised by re:cap, a wholly owned subsidiary of First Private, the parent company of FP Lux Group.

Scurf Dyke Solar Farm was granted a power generation licence by industry regulator Ofgem on 15 April 2024, but the project’s battery energy storage system (BESS) has not yet been brought online. BayWa re is building the 8MW/16MWh BESS, having previously provided EPC services to develop and build the solar plant.

Statkraft argued that the way Scurf Dyke Solar Farm was financed meant that securing a long-term offtake contract was important to show a clear path to the energy market and the Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) certificates the project could generate. The plant had previously secured an allocation of 49.9MW at a strike price of £45.99 ($59)/MWh of a contract for difference (CfD) in the fourth round of the UK CfD. The CfD covers implementation in the 2024-25 financial year.

“Following a competitive tender process, Statkraft was selected to deliver Scurf Dyke. Given the size of the project, the contractors involved and the potential addition of BESS, we were particularly excited to be involved,” said John Puddephatt, PPA Development Manager at Statkraft. “Due to the team’s significant previous experience, once selected we were able to smoothly execute the contracts and meet Scurf Dyke deadlines.”

A Statkraft spokesman also confirmed that pv magazine that the company has already signed PPAs with six projects included in the fourth round of CfD. These include Scurf Dyke, two seven-year PPAs announced in July 2023 with British power producer Infinis, and three PPAs that have not been made public.

Earlier in July 2024, Statkraft signed a PPA with UK developer Luminous Energy for a 28.5 MW solar plant in England, which secured fixed electricity prices in the fifth round of CfD allocations, as well as a virtual corporate PPA with Bristol Airport. A Statkraft spokesperson confirmed that its UK solar PPA portfolio currently stands at 1,425 MW, and it also has 2.4 GW of contracted flexible capacity on the UK grid, including batteries and gas.

Popular content

Statkraft’s announcement of a new UK solar and storage PPA follows a significant drop in battery revenues from the previous record. In 2022, revenues from its UK BESS fleet reached £156,000 per MW per year, according to Modo Energy. The battery analytics platform developer said revenues averaged £27,000 per year from November 2023 to February 2024. A Statkraft spokesman acknowledged that short-term wholesale trading markets are naturally volatile for batteries. “That’s just the nature of the asset class and short-term optimisation.”

“Statkraft is able to offer different risk management structures within battery optimisation agreements through long-term limits, providing downside protection, as well as forward market hedges that allow owners to manage the risks associated with this volatility,” they said.