Pathfinder Clean Energy submits further 90 MWp into planning across two UK sites
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), the international developer of utility scale solar and co-located battery storage projects, has submitted an additional 90 MWp of clean energy projects into planning in the UK.
These projects are Maleys and Tophams Solar farms and are located in Norfolk and Hertfordshire.
Alex Ross, Development Director of Pathfinder Clean Energy said: “These latest projects have completed over two years of development and through innovation and dedication from our team we have managed this through the restrictions of the last couple of years. PACE UK intends to start construction of 3 sites totalling 70MWp and 15MW/30MWh energy storage projects in the coming months and also submit an additional 200MWp of solar and energy storage projects into planning in the UK in the first half of this year’.
Rob Denman, Managing Director, said, ‘With the focus increasingly on clean energy and also energy security, the PACE projects can provide significant benefits to the UK. We are expanding our local and international teams as we move additional projects into development and construction. As the market also requires increasing innovation to overcome grid constraints, curtailment and other market challenges we are also looking to combine technologies across our developments beyond simple energy storage to include green hydrogen and other complementary technologies’.
Information on the Projects
Maleys Solar
Maleys is a 39 MWp solar farm located in Easton, Norfolk just off the A47. The project will generate around 40 GWh, providing clean power to a local industrial park with surplus to be supplied to the national electricity grid where it could provide power for up to 12,500 households and displacing 9,000 tonnes of C02 e annually.
Tophams Solar
Tophams is a 49.9 MWp solar farm located in Bygrave, Letchworth. The project will generate around 50 GWh, sufficient to power 16,000 households and displacing 11,300 tonnes of C02 e annually.
Pathfinder Clean Energy secures funding from Hitachi Capital Business Finance to support its UK expansion
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), the UK-headquartered international developer of utility scale solar and battery storage projects, has secured funding from Hitachi Capital Business Finance to support the growth of its project development pipeline in the UK.
The financing arrangement will enable PACE to continue its development pipeline of solar plus storage sites, with plans to submit an additional 130MWp of projects into planning in Q1 2022. This would bring PACE’s portfolio of permitted or planning submitted projects to over 200MWp. The portfolio would require over £100m of construction funding through 2022/23.
Rob Rabinowitz, Commercial Director at PACE said: “Hitachi Capital’s credit facility is designed to support PACE’s strategy of building a strong renewable energy platform that integrates project development, financing and operations.”
Rob Denman, Managing Director of PACE said: “PACE is delighted to be working with Hitachi Capital; they are one of the leaders in the sustainability financing sector. The agreement with Hitachi Capital enables us to continue our growth in the UK and accelerate our projects through the development process.”
“As the market continues to innovate - in the UK and the other markets in which PACE is doing business - we are constantly evaluating how we can maximise the benefit our projects can bring, through combining utility scale solar with energy storage or considering how we can integrate other advances such as green hydrogen.”
“We consider this to be the start of a long business relationship with Hitachi Capital in the UK and the other international markets in which we operate.”
PACE is presently developing renewable energy projects in the UK, Spain, Poland and Canada. Last month, PACE secured approval for two solar projects in the Canadian province of Alberta; construction of these are expected to start in 2022.
Phillippe Bazin, Head of Sustainability, Hitachi Capital Business Finance said. “Hitachi Capital has a long-term commitment to funding innovation and deployment in the UK’s renewable energy markets and in helping businesses with strong sustainability ambitions and growth prospects to get to scale. We have been impressed with the quality and depth of PACE’s offer and have designed a tailored funding package that supports their growth while they increase the maturity and value of their project portfolio.”
For further information:
Pathfinder Clean Energy
Paul Taylor, Taylor Keogh Communications: +44 (0)7966 782611 / paul@taylorkeogh.com
Ben Chippendale, PACE: +44 (0)20 7127 4542 / press@pathinderce.com
Hitachi Capital Business Finance
Jim Follett, elephant communications: 07908 551571 - 07908 551572 / jim@elephantcommunications.co.uk
Notes to Editors
About Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) – wordpress-36197-2975843.cloudwaysapps.com
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) is an international clean energy developer and investor. The company was co-founded by Rob Denman and Alex Ross in 2017. The company has since grown to a team of 16 people across UK, continental Europe and Canada - all with extensive experience in the clean energy sector.
PACE’s team brings over 40 years and 1GW of experience from across the asset cycle - from development to financing, construction and operation.
PACE uses the latest cloud-based proprietary technology to collaborate across global markets and projects to enable its projects to deliver competitive power prices under merchant power models, PPAs or bids into government auctions.
PACE’s understanding and management of the complete life cycle of a project provides a route to deploying capital at scale and across multiple international clean energy markets.
About Hitachi Capital Business Finance
Hitachi Capital Business Finance, a division of Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC, provides business asset finance to SMEs and bigger corporations across the UK to help them meet their goals and grow.
With an asset portfolio of more than £1.3bn, the business is active across multiple sectors such as transport, agriculture, construction, manufacturing, materials handling and financial services providers.
Business finance products including hire purchase, finance lease solutions, stocking and block discounting are provided through brokers, vendor organisations, manufacturers and direct to the business community.
About Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC
Hitachi Capital (UK) Plc is a leading financial services company, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). We have over 1,500 employees, £5.9bn of net earning assets and over 1.4 million customers across five business divisions; Consumer Finance, Vehicle Solutions, Business Finance, Invoice Finance and European Vendor Solutions. For nearly 40 years, Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC has worked with consumers and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as corporate multinationals in the UK and mainland Europe, enabling millions of consumers and businesses to achieve their ambitions.
Whether it’s powering retail with market-leading point of sale finance, helping people realise their ambitions with personal loans, supporting the growth of SMEs or keeping businesses on the road, Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC has firmly established itself as one of the UK's leading consumer lending, asset finance and vehicle leasing providers.
From 1 April 2021 we became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc. strengthening our relationship with one of the world's largest and most diversified financial groups.
PACE Canada completes development and obtains AUC approval for 61 MWp Joffre Solar park and 8 MWp Youngstown solar park in Alberta
PACE Canada has received Alberta Utilities Commision (AUC) power plant approval under the Hydro and Electric Energy Act for two projects. This is an important milestone in the development process and PACE will be pushing on with financing and to enter construction.
The Joffre solar power project is proposed for a site near the Joffre petrochemical complex in Lacombe County. Development work on the 47-megawatt export facility began in 2018 and current designs are for a total installed capacity of approximately 61 MWp. The project was approved under proceedings 26733 & 26760.
The smaller Youngstown solar power project is located in Special Areas no. 3 and PACE anticipates entering construction at the same time as Joffre. Approved under proceeding 26734.
Power generated across the two projects would go into the provincial electrical grid and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 16,000 tonnes per year and power over 22,000 houses across the expected initial 25-year life of the project.
PACE intends to enter construction in early 2022 with connection by the end of the year.
Alex Ross, Development Director of PACE Group said, “PACE is working to enter construction of over 100MWp of projects in 2022 in Alberta and increase our participation in this exciting market. Joffre and Youngstown are the first two of these projects but PACE has ambitious plans to grow our pipeline in Canada over the course of the next 12-18 months .”
Pathfinder Clean Energy commences public consultation for 15MWp co-located solar and energy storage project in Lincolnshire
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), a UK-headquartered international developer of utility scale solar and battery storage projects, has commenced the community consultation for a 15MWp solar farm in the East Lindsey area of Lincolnshire. The proposed scheme will also include energy storage of up to 5MW/20 MWh.
Subject to the outcome of its local consultation process and its environment and technical assessments, PACE is aiming to submit a planning application for the scheme before the end of this year (2021).
PACE has 70MWp of projects fully permitted and working to enter construction in early 2022 and has a target of advancing into planning an additional 200+MWp before the end of 2021.
Rob Denman, Managing Director of Pathfinder Clean Energy said: “Our Lincolnshire project will add to our ever-expanding portfolio across the UK.
“With the current turmoil in the gas markets increasing energy prices, and the need to get to Net Zero, the need for unsubsidised renewable energy schemes have never been more important to the UK.”
“We continue to explore additional ways we can innovate on our projects for the benefit of the energy market and the electricity grid. PACE is already looking to co-locate energy storage and we are exploring opportunities to develop green hydrogen across the UK where economically and logistically viable to meet the potential increase in demand from industry and the commercial transport sectors’.
Pathfinder Clean Energy outlines plans for its second 50MW solar and energy storage farm in the UK
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), a UK-headquartered international developer of utility scale solar and battery storage projects, has commenced the community consultation for its second 50MWp solar farm in the UK. The proposed scheme which is located in North Hertfordshire 13 miles north-east of Stevenage will also include energy storage of up to 8MW/32MWh.
Subject to the outcome of its local consultation process and its environment and technical assessments, PACE is aiming to submit a planning application for the scheme before the end of the year (2021).
Today’s announcement follows the company’s recent success (September 6th 2021) in securing planning approval for a 26MWp solar farm in Norfolk - its third success so far this year, taking the company’s permitted pipeline of solar projects in the UK to more than 70MWp. PACE also has an additional 150MW of solar projects (some co-located with energy storage projects) in the public consultation/pre-planning stage.
Rob Shaw, who leads PACE’s planning team said: “PACE’s solar and energy storage projects are making a strong contribution to the UK’s drive towards NetZero and play our part in tackling the climate emergency. Importantly, our projects are clean and provide renewable power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.”
“But our ethos goes beyond this. On all our sites, we are working to integrate landscape and biodiversity improvements, and where possible increase accessibility to the countryside, so that the benefits can be felt by the communities in which we work.”
The proposed solar farm in Hertfordshire (known as Tophams) will cover approximately 60 hectares, and will generate enough energy to power nearly 15,759 homes. The project will also include energy storage so that the project can provide additional services to the grid and improve the flexibility and control of the energy it creates.
Rob Denman, Managing Director of Pathfinder Clean Energy said: “Bringing viable clean energy projects through the permitting system in the UK and in the other markets where we are active requires a careful and sensitive balance between local requirements and the national need.
“We are bringing forward renewable energy projects that form part of the effort to combat climate change, and they provide a low cost and low impact way to help power the countries in which we operate. The Tophams project, alongside our other schemes, will bring our pipeline of solar projects to over 300MW in late stage development or ready to construct, and these should enter operation within the next 1-2 years. Where possible, many of these projects will be co-located with energy storage to provide the flexibility that the energy system requires.”
PACE UK nets third solar planning consent - Attleborough solar farm permission takes PACE’s UK consented pipeline to 70MWp
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), a UK-headquartered international developer of utility scale solar and battery storage projects has secured planning approval for its 26 MWp Attleborough Solar Park, 15 miles south-west of Norwich, Norfolk. The consent, its third in the UK this year, brings the company’s permitted pipeline in the UK to over 70MWp across three projects - Three Bridges, Burgate and now Attleborough. In addition, PACE has projects elsewhere in the UK as well as Canada, Spain and Poland which are at various stages of development.
The ground-mounted Attleborough solar farm will provide enough power for the equivalent of 7,523 UK households and will reduce CO2 emissions by 5,437 tonnes annually. Subject to financing, its construction is earmarked for 2022.
Rob Denman, Managing Director of PACE said: “We now have over 70MWp of projects in the east of England that are in a position to be constructed. We will soon be announcing further details on a further 300MW of solar and energy storage projects in the UK; we intend to submit applications for these projects before the end of the year.”
“The requirement for clean energy at scale has never been more important and we are now moving into a position to enter construction in early 2022 with our UK and Canadian projects.”
“We will continue to innovate across our projects with additional co-location of energy storage where appropriate and combining additional technologies as and when they become viable such as synchronous condensers, hydrogen or other enhancements.”
“PACE is confident that our assets can provide a strong contribution to how we decarbonise in the UK and internationally, and to be at the forefront of how this important sector takes on this challenge.”
PACE secured planning consent for the Three Bridges solar farm in February 2021 and its Burgate solar farm in July 2021. It has recently commenced the development and consultation process for a 50MW solar farm near Diss, Suffolk with additional consultations to be announced in the next few weeks.
About Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE)
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) is an international clean energy developer and investor. The company was co-founded by Rob Denman and Alex Ross in 2017. The company has since grown to a team of 16 across UK, Europe and Canada - all with extensive experience in the clean energy sector, both in the UK and overseas.
PACE’s team brings over 40 years and 1GW of experience from across the asset cycle - from development to financing, construction and operation.
PACE uses the latest cloud-based proprietary technology to collaborate across global markets and projects to enable its projects to deliver competitive power prices under merchant power models, PPAs or bids into government auctions.
PACE currently has a development pipeline of over 1GW of solar projects across its international markets. The company also has solar projects at an advanced stage of development in Canada and Spain, and is soon to start development operations in Poland.
PACE’s understanding and management of the complete life cycle of a project provides a route to deploying capital at scale and across multiple international clean energy markets.
wordpress-36197-2975843.cloudwaysapps.com
For communications related to this announcement:
Paul Taylor, Taylor Keogh Communications - +44 (0)20 8392 8250 / paul@taylorkeogh.com or press@pathfinder.com
For PACE general enquiries:
Pathfinder Clean Energy - Contact: Ben Chippendale
Tel +44 (0)20 7127 4542
press@pathfinderce.com
PACE Poland moving forward with 80MWp of solar across two projects
PACE Poland is moving forward with its first solar farm projects in West Pomeranian Voivodeship - in the north west of the country. The company has submitted applications for a decision on environmental conditions for two solar projects.
The next steps on the way to the development and construction of the projects will be obtaining a decision on land development conditions and a decision on the conditions for connecting the solar farms to the local grid. PACE is targeting these projects to connect in 2022.
In addition to taking forward these two projects, the PACE Poland team is assessing a series of other locations for solar projects across the country.
Rob Denman, Managing Director of PACE said: ‘Since we established PACE Poland in late 2020 we have expanded our team and reach as we see Poland to be a key growth market for PACE. It’s an exciting market and we are confident that these two projects in West Pomerania will be the first of many as we increase our investment and our resources in the country.”
About Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE)
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) is an international clean energy developer and investor. The company was co-founded by Rob Denman and Alex Ross in 2017. The company has since grown to a team of 16 across UK, Europe and Canada - all with extensive experience in the clean energy sector, both in the UK and overseas.
PACE’s team brings over 40 years and 1GW of experience from across the asset cycle - from development to financing, construction and operation.
PACE uses the latest cloud-based proprietary technology to collaborate across global markets and projects to enable its projects to deliver competitive power prices under merchant power models, PPAs or bids into government auctions.
PACE’s understanding and management of the complete life cycle of a project provides a route to deploying capital at scale and across multiple international clean energy markets.
wordpress-36197-2975843.cloudwaysapps.com
For communications related to this announcement:
Paul Taylor, Taylor Keogh Communications - +44 (0)20 8392 8250 / paul@taylorkeogh.com or press@pathfinder.com
For PACE general enquiries:
Pathfinder Clean Energy - Contact: Ben Chippendale
Tel +44 (0)20 7127 4542
press@pathfinderce.com
Pathfinder Clean Energy secures planning permission for Burgate Solar farm in Norfolk
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), the UK-headquartered international developer of utility scale solar and battery storage projects, has secured planning permission for its 21MWp Burgate solar farm, located eight miles north of Norwich.
The Burgate solar farm will provide enough power for the equivalent of 6,800 UK households and will reduce CO2 emissions by 4,900 tonnes annually.
Alex Ross, Director of PACE Developments in the UK said: ‘PACE UK is delighted to achieve another planning success at Burgate. The Covid pandemic created additional challenges to the team but we overcame these through our use of technology and we can now focus towards a construction start.”
PACE currently has a development pipeline of over 1GW of solar projects in the UK, Canada, Spain and Poland.
Rob Denman, Managing Director of PACE, said: ‘PACE is really gathering momentum and we are now active across three continents - Europe, Africa and North America. We have been active in Spain for some time and are pursuing project opportunities in Poland. In May, our PACE Technical team secured a project design contract in Cape Verde, and in June our Development team secured consent for a solar farm in Alberta, Canada. We are advancing towards construction starts for our lead projects within the next 6-10 months.
“With the volatility of clean energy markets and markets generally, our broad geographical presence provides PACE with the ability to manage risks and make sure our experienced team is always involved in market leading projects. With our new team in Poland also starting to gain a strong foothold, we look forward to many more successes through the year and into 2022.”.
About Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE)
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) is an international clean energy developer and investor. The company was co-founded by Rob Denman and Alex Ross in 2017. The company has since grown to a team of 16 across UK, Europe and Canada - all with extensive experience in the clean energy sector, both in the UK and overseas.
PACE’s team brings over 40 years and 1GW of experience from across the asset cycle - from development to financing, construction and operation.
PACE uses the latest cloud-based proprietary technology to collaborate across global markets and projects to enable its projects to deliver competitive power prices under merchant power models, PPAs or bids into government auctions.
PACE’s understanding and management of the complete life cycle of a project provides a route to deploying capital at scale and across multiple international clean energy markets.
wordpress-36197-2975843.cloudwaysapps.com
For communications related to this announcement:
Paul Taylor, Taylor Keogh Communications - +44 (0)20 8392 8250 / paul@taylorkeogh.com or press@pathfinder.com
For PACE general enquiries:
Pathfinder Clean Energy - Contact: Ben Chippendale
Tel +44 (0)20 7127 4542
press@pathfinderce.com
PACE UK strengthens development team with two new appointments
Pathfinder Clean Energy’s team in the UK continues to expand with two new appointments.
Andy Anderson has joined the in-house planning team at Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE) to advance the company’s pipeline of solar and energy storage projects.
Andy is a Chartered Town Planner with thirty years’ experience in urban planning, cultural development, built heritage, and international development projects in both the private and public sectors. This includes extensive experience leading planning applications, working with governments, local authorities, NGOs, and donor agencies.
PACE has also appointed Dylan Brereton as a Design Engineer to support the origination and development of new and advancing projects. Dylan is a graduate from the University of Exeter where he studied Renewable Energy Engineering.
The two appointments have been made as PACE UK await the planning determinations for two solar farm projects in East Anglia, that are expected before the end of August. Andy and Dylan will also be joining the PACE development team to advance PACE’s pipeline of over 400MW of projects across solar and energy storage through permitting over the next 18 months.
Rob Denman, Managing Director of Pathfinder Clean Energy said: “‘We are delighted to welcome Andy and Dylan onto the team as we grow our UK and international pipelines. As we move into the financing and construction phase for our projects in the UK and international markets we need to continue to also bring through new projects into our pipeline and to do this we need to continue to identify the best talent we can to support our endeavours.. This is not the time to slow down on our expansion as the requirement for clean energy has never been clearer and the PACE team needs to grow so we can make a material contribution.”
“It is also crucial that we continue to bring good engineers into the industry and with our close links to the leading universities that focus on clean energy in the UK and internationally we are confident Dylan will be the first of many we can bring through straight from university to join us in this this exciting and important sector.”
Dylan will be based in PACE’s Bristol office.
Consultation starts on Pathfinder Clean Energy’s largest UK project: 50MW solar farm in Suffolk
Pathfinder Clean Energy (PACE), a UK-headquartered international developer of utility scale solar and battery storage projects, has commenced the community consultation for a 50MW solar farm, its largest UK subsidy-free solar project to date. The proposed ground-mounted scheme is located near the Suffolk town of Diss.
A planning application for the scheme will be submitted before the end of the summer.
The Diss project is the fourth solar farm that PACE is seeking to develop in the UK. The company now has more than 100MW of solar capacity in various stages of the planning process, with an additional 400MW of solar and solar+Storage projects in the UK expected to be brought forward in the next 24 months.
Alex Ross, Director of PACE Developments in the UK said: “PACE’s inhouse planning team identified the Diss site as ideal for solar, and is now carrying out additional analysis to support the planning application. Solar generation is important for the UK in its drive towards Net Zero and having a country’s clean energy infrastructure.
“We have shared our plans for an ecologically-led solar farm with the local parish council which will see the land continue to be used for agriculture. We plan to take measures to increase the site’s biodiversity and will plant additional hedgerows as well. Further consultation with the local community will be undertaken before we submit our application.
The proposed solar farm (known as Grange) will cover approximately 90 hectares, and will generate enough energy to power nearly 15,480 homes.