Innova Energy has acquired a 5MW operating solar plant in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, which supplies the largest soft drink bottling facility in Europe.

The solar plant at the site, operated by Coca-Cola European Partners, was commissioned in 2017 and accredited by Ofgem at 1.2 ROCs. It covers approximately 20 acres and is connected by a 4,300m long private wire cable to the bottling facility. Innova has agreed to work to increase the capacity of the solar plant to 8MW by the end of the year.

This acquisition brings the total installed capacity owned and by operated by Innova Energy to 60MW, including solar farms supplying Greenyard Frozen, Williams Refrigeration, Kallo Foods, John Lewis and Waitrose.

Antonia Silvestri, partner at law firm TLT, which advised Innova Energy, said: “For many large organisations entering into a corporate power purchasing arrangement (PPA) is a way of managing energy costs and reducing carbon footprint by securing energy from a renewable source. We’re likely to see more interest in this type of arrangement over the coming months as companies review their net zero strategy.

“In addition, as more of these projects come to market investor activity is likely to also increase – a scheme with a corporate PPA already in place has revenue security which makes it a considerably attractive proposition. With ROC and FIT projects coming to market less frequently, subsidy-free schemes backed by a corporate PPA may become the new low-hanging fruit.”