UK solar investor toasts completion of maiden subsidy-free solar farm

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
Image: NESF.

NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF), one of the UK’s largest solar investors, has completed what it claims to be first subsidy-free solar farm connected by a listed investment firm in the country.

NESF today confirmed that it energised the 5.4MW Hall Farm II project on 5 August 2019, the company’s first project to be completed without support of subsidies.

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

The investor said that the development gave it “industry leadership in this space”, with the company having already started construction on a much larger, 50MW subsidy-free site. That project, located on the border of Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire, is scheduled to complete before the end of this financial year.

“These achievements are notable as they demonstrate the economic case for subsidy-free solar PV assets in the UK compared to other energy generation technologies, many of which still require extensive and expensive subsidies,” the company said.

Hall Farm II is built adjacent to NESF’s existing Hall Farm solar array and, as such, benefitted from an oversized planning application and existing grid infrastructure, the fund said, helping with project economics.

NESF, which holds around 705MW of generation capacity, first publicly targeted subsidy-free solar in the UK last June, before boosting its pipeline of subsidy-free prospects to around 470MW before the turn of the year.

The announcement came within NESF’s interim results for the six-months ended 30 September 2019, a period which saw electricity generation surge some 5% ahead of expectations on the back of higher than forecast irradiation.

Read Next

October 8, 2025
PV Talk: Smart Energy Council's Nigel Morris reflects on how Australia has become a global testbed for distributed solar and storage innovation.
October 8, 2025
Officials from Norway and Egypt have agreed provisional terms for the financing of the Dandara solar park in Egypt, which is being built and operated by Norwegian IPP Scatec.
October 8, 2025
Saatvik Green Energy has secured new solar PV module orders worth more than INR7 billion (US$84 million), to be delivered in this financial year.
October 8, 2025
Australia's NEM achieved a new minimum operational demand record of 9,666MW, marking a 4% decrease from the previous record.
October 8, 2025
Frontier Energy plans to expand its Waroona Renewable Energy Project into a renewable energy precinct by 2031, targeting up to 1GW solar.
October 7, 2025
Econergy will acquire 100% stake in the 155MW Ratesti solar project in Romania, further expanding its European renewable energy portfolio.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Solar Media Events
October 21, 2025
New York, USA
Solar Media Events
November 25, 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Solar Media Events
December 2, 2025
Málaga, Spain
Solar Media Events
February 3, 2026
London, UK