Water utility United Utilities has announced the sale of its renewable energy business, United Utilities Renewable Energy Limited to SDCL Energy Efficiency Income Trust plc approximately £100 million enterprise value.
UURE comprises 69MW of renewable generation assets across 70 sites, including a 1MW floating solar array at Langthwaite reservoir near Lancaster and a 2MW battery alongside solar panels at the Clifton Marsh wastewater treatment works near Preston.
When it was put up for sale in June last year the assets were said to have a carrying value of £65.5 million.
In 2019/20 UU generated the equivalent of 191GWh of renewable electricity, an increase of 18GWh on the previous year.
SDCL said the renewable portfolio comprises 90% solar PV, 9% wind and 1% hydro in terms of total generation. The solar PV and wind assets are all connected to UUW on-site water utility infrastructure via private wire, and provide green electricity under long-term, fixed-price power purchase agreements with UUW, which covers approximately 74% of total revenues. Some assets have 20-year Feed-in-Tariffs, which account for approximately 17% of the total revenues with a remaining weighted average life of 14.5 years.