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

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

Not ready to commit yet?
  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

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grid, concerns about curtailment and the regulatory framework surrounding it were cited by solar investors who have withdrawn from the market.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

August 29, 2025
US grid interconnection agreements grew by 33% in 2024, reaching 75GW, with three-quarters signed for solar PV and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, according to a new report from energy market analyst Wood Mackenzie.
August 28, 2025
Venture capital firm Pacific Channel has launched Fund V, which targets 10GW of solar, wind, and energy storage in New Zealand.
August 28, 2025
Developer Pacific Energy has successfully commissioned a 26MW solar-plus-storage site at the Atlas-Campaspe mine in NSW, Australia.
August 26, 2025
ABO Energy has closed its first syndicated loan agreement worth €240 million (US$279.8 million) to develop and construct more wind, solar and storage project.
August 26, 2025
Daqo New Energy has posted gross losses of US$81.4 million in Q2 2025, up from losses of US$81.5 million in Q1.
August 26, 2025
Investment in utility-scale solar fell by 19% in the first half of 2025, as global investment in all renewable energy projects grew by 10%.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
September 16, 2025
Athens, Greece
Solar Media Events
September 30, 2025
Seattle, USA
Solar Media Events
October 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
October 2, 2025
London,UK
Solar Media Events
October 7, 2025
Manila, Philippines