Element Power Solar Completes Sale of 6MW UK Solar Parks

Element Power Solar today announced that it has completed the successful sale of two solar parks with a combined capacity of 6MW to funds managed by alternative asset manager Foresight Group (Foresight).

The projects, Puriton West (4MW) and Summerway Drove (1.8MW) developed by Element Power Solar in partnership with Dublin-based BNRG Renewables, were constructed and commissioned during 2011 under the UK Government's Feed-in-Tariff legislation designed to encourage construction of low carbon electricity generation from renewable energy technologies.

The rapid and considerable changes to the UK's Feed-in-Tariff during 2011 meant the construction window for both projects had to reduce from 12 to 3 months. Element Power Solar took an innovative approach to deliver two high-quality projects in the dramatically reduced timeframe, whilst retaining its commitment to the local environment and working with the local community. Mike O'Neill, President and COO of Element Power said, "We are delighted to finalize the sale of these two projects. It is clear testimony to Element Power Solar's capital strength, deep knowledge of the photovoltaic market and ability to identify and establish high-class partnerships that we have succeeded when so many other projects failed because of legislative uncertainty."

"Unlike many companies within the UK solar sector we have overcome various unforeseen challenges during the last 12 months. BNRG's partnership with Element Power Solar has left us as one of a small number of developers to successfully commission commercial-scale projects in the UK," commented David Maguire, Director of BNRG Renewables.

Ricardo Piñeiro, Investment Manager at Foresight, said, "Commercial-scale feed-in-tariff solar projects continue to be an attractive investment proposition. We are delighted to add these two projects to our growing portfolio of solar assets increasing our UK portfolio to 16MWs."

Element Power Solar's environmental ethos was reaffirmed by Bernice Roberts of environmental consultants The Landmark Practice which worked with Element Power Solar and BNRG Renewables to deliver the schemes. "There is always a risk that ecological and environmental considerations can get lost in the pursuit of meeting such dramatically reduced timescales. We are delighted to say that the developers worked closely with us, from the beginning of the consenting process through to development on the ground. This has ensured that the environmental considerations at these sites remained a priority throughout."

Element Power Solar
Element Power Solar is a unit of Element Power focusing on the global opportunities in PV solar. Element Power Solar has an extensive portfolio of solar projects with 77MWp of projects developed, built and in operation, and over 2,200MW of projects in development across Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa and South East Asia. Element Power Solar is based in Portland, Oregon with offices in Madrid, London, Verona, Charlottesville, Concepción and Mexico City.

BNRG
BNRG Renewables is a Solar PV project development company with headquarters in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) in Dublin and offices in Athens, London and Plovdiv. Together with its experienced in-house teams, the company engages with local expertise and professionals, in order to meet the company's strategic goal: to develop a significant portfolio of Solar PV projects across Europe.

Foresight
Foresight is an independent alternative asset manager, which focuses primarily on investments in unquoted UK and European companies or projects and offers investors exclusive access to attractive income and growth opportunities.

The Landmark Practice
The Landmark Practice is an independent environmental consultancy based in Bristol, with specialist knowledge of planning, landscape design and ecology.

SOURCE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/03/04/prweb9246518.DTL