The site was acquired by ISG Renewables earlier this year.The Elms Farm Solar Park was acquired by ISG Renewables, a joint venture between Innova and investment firm Schroders Greencoat, in May of this year, having already been granted planning permission in 2022 and beginning construction in 2023. In October, ISG Renewables announced that a 15-year corporate power purchase agreement (CPPA) had been signed for the Elms Farm solar project, with Anglian Water agreeing to offtake 100% of the energy generated by the solar PV power plant.
This is the third successful energisation Innova has celebrated in 2024, with the 28.5MWp Stokeford Solar Park in Dorset being energised in July, and Lincolnshire’s 22.6MWp Bicker Fen solar PV power plant coming online in March.
Gordon Pope, director of project delivery at Innova, said: “We are thrilled to announce the energisation of our fourth solar DNO [distribution network operator] -level project. Following three previous successful energisations, however, this one hits differently. Elms Farm is the model of how Innova plans to deliver our solar DNO pipeline going forward.”
Elms Farm is the third solar project that the ISG Renewables joint venture has acquired, following the acquisition of the 10MWp Carn Nicholas Solar Park in April 2023 and Bicker Fen Solar Park in March 2024. Both of these projects are also operational.
Innova on the rise
Innova has also seen some significant planning wins this year. In September, Innova announced that it had been granted planning permission by Staffordshire Moorlands District Council to expand the Blythe Solar Farm solar-plus-storage development. The newly approved plans will expand the solar generation capacity of the site by 16.6MW to reach 44.3MWp, with plans for the 30MW battery energy storage system (BESS) remaining unchanged. The project is set to come online in 2027. The same announcement revealed that planning permission had also been granted for a project in Taunton, the 22MW Ham Farm Solar Park.
In late October, Innova was granted planning permission for the 13MWp Welsh Way Solar Farm by Cotswold District Council. While a construction start date for this project has not yet been announced, Innova expects the development to become operational in 2026.
Innova currently has over 60 DNO- and grid-connected projects in development across the UK, with a total solar and storage capacity of around 24GW.
