UK developer Lightsource Renewable Energy has earmarked an investment of £125 million (US$193 million) for the country's rooftop solar market.
The company is approaching 1GW of ground-mount projects but with support for larger sites on the wane in the UK, it is looking to develop its rooftop portfolio.
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It has already begun developing a network of installer partners and has said it will back a £0.05/kWh (US$0.077/kWh) power purchase agreement (PPA) for resulting projects. It hopes the funds will deliver 120MW of installations on commercial and residential solar including on schools and social housing.
“Over the last few months, Lightsource has worked persistently to address the barriers to rooftop solar deployment,” said Nick Boyle, CEO at Lightsource.
“The biggest breakthrough has been our mid-scale solar power purchase agreement which is praised for its simplicity by end users and installers alike. This has enabled a significant pipeline to emerge and therefore we are able to affirm our commitment of £125 million, allocated specifically towards rooftop solar projects,” he added.
“Now that we have allocated the funds, relationships with installers will be key in realising our ambition. Therefore, we are keen to seek out these partnerships and work with local supply chains. Thirty installer firms have already signed up with us and I would like to see that double in the next couple of months.”
The government has previously pledged to put “rocket boosters” under the commercial solar sector but progress has so far been slow.
