Lux Nova are proud to have contributed to the refinancing of the 14.7MW community-owned Drayton Manor solar farm array in Warwickshire, advising the Project Companies.
The Project is the largest community-owned solar farm in the UK and is managed by Communities for Renewables (CfR) CIC.
The 60,000 solar panel solar farm is owned by Heart of England Community Energy and has the capacity to generate 14.7MW of electricity – enough to power around 4,500 homes. It is co-located with 3MW of batteries operated by a third party, meaning that the site is used both to generate clean solar energy and provide battery storage services to the grid.
The project is unique in its combination of community ownership, solar power and battery storage, and two layers of senior and junior finance.
The transaction was undertaken to secure long-term, lower-cost finance for the solar project, with reduced loan repayments allowing more money to be used to support community projects. The total financing package of £16.3 million combines senior loans of around £12 million from Triodos Bank UK with junior loans from Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC) of around £4.3 million. SASC provided capital to fund the community acquisition of the solar farm in 2016.
Heart of England Community Energy uses profits from the solar farm to support a fuel poverty advice service run by local charity Act on Energy and a community grant fund. The community grant fund has so far provided funding to Harbury e-Wheels, a Warwickshire-based community transport charity, and SolarAid, a charity working in Africa to provide solar lights.
Lux Nova’s head of project finance, Louisa Cilenti, commented:
“It has been so rewarding to contribute to this solar park on yet another step of its journey, having already advised on the original acquisition into community hands in 2017. The community now benefits from a utility scale park, coupled with battery storage, and a competitive financing package. This result combines so much of what Lux Nova stand for and we are very grateful to CfR for giving us the opportunity to work on the refinancing.”
About Communities for Renewables CIC
Communities for Renewables (CfR) CIC is a mission-led community interest company which helps communities to set up local energy enterprises and works with them to develop, finance and manage their own renewable energy generation. CfR has managed the development and financing of around £56million of community solar projects and manages 50Mw of community solar projects for 7 different community energy enterprises, including Heart of England Community Energy.
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