Australia grid outages weigh down Foresight solar asset performance

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Foresight Solar Fund’s Longreach solar farm in Victoria, Australia (pictured) was connected to the grid in 2018.

Grid outages in Australia dented the performance of UK-based solar asset owner Foresight Solar Fund (FSFL) in the first nine months of the year.

However elevated wholesale power prices in the UK and beyond helped mitigate any drag on the investor’s financial performance, boosting actual cash generated by Foresight’s portfolio of solar assets.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Try Premium for just $1

  • Full premium access for the first month at only $1
  • Converts to an annual rate after 30 days unless cancelled
  • Cancel anytime during the trial period

Premium Benefits

  • Expert industry analysis and interviews
  • Digital access to PV Tech Power journal
  • Exclusive event discounts

Or get the full Premium subscription right away

Or continue reading this article for free

Issuing a Q3 net asset value (NAV) and operational update today, Foresight noted that electricity generation from the company’s portfolio was 3.2% below expectation for the first three quarters of the year, driven primarily by underperformance of the company’s assets in Australia.

Foresight owns 146MW (net peak capacity, with FSFL owning a share of some assets) of grid-connected solar assets in Australia, however grid outages and lower than forecast irradiation in Australia was a drag on performance in the reporting period.

While Australia is not the only market which has experienced issues with its power grid, concerns about curtailment and the regulatory framework surrounding it were cited by solar investors who have withdrawn from the market. PV Tech Power volume 28 covered the issue within a feature article exploring the investment landscape for solar in Australia, which can be read here.

Nevertheless, total revenue in the nine-month period was some 14% ahead of budget as a result of spiking power prices in the UK. High gas prices and tight power margins have contributed towards spiking merchant power prices in the country, with operational generation assets able to capitalise.

Foresight noted that its NAV rose by around £0.061 per share throughout the three months ended 30 September 2021, around £0.007 per share of which was attributable to the fund’s UK solar assets being able to capture the “exceptionally high” power prices during the reporting period.

Furthermore, approximately one-quarter of this uplift – around £0.015 – was attributable to an increase in power price forecasts, with the effects of Europe’s energy crisis set to continue.

21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.

Read Next

October 7, 2025
OpenSolar has secured US$13.1 million in equity financing from technology investors, including Titanium Ventures, Google and others.
October 7, 2025
Doral Renewables has secured a PPA with an unnamed 'corporate buyer' for its 430MW Cold Creek solar-plus-storage project in Texas.
October 7, 2025
Rystad Energy has said that Queensland’s utility-solar assets were the best-performing solar PV power plants in September 2025.
October 7, 2025
The government of Victoria, Australia, has launched the an incentive scheme to encourage businesses to install rooftop solar installations.
October 6, 2025
Genesis Energy and FRV Australia have mutually agreed to terminate their solar development joint venture while maintaining co-ownership of the 63MWp Lauriston solar PV power plant in Canterbury, New Zealand.
October 6, 2025
US utility AES Corporation is reportedly in discussions to be acquired by Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a subsidiary of global asset owning giant BlackRock.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland