Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 13TH - 19TH DECEMBER 2019 | 23 Finance & Investment Scottish Power has revealed plans to install solar arrays and battery storage at its existing onshore wind farms as part of a new hybrid power strategy that seeks to make the best use of grid connections and land. The company said the "vast majority" of its future develop- ments will also combine two or more of the technologies, includ- ing its current pipeline of more ELECTRICITY Scottish Power to install wind, solar and storage in hybrid projects than 1,000MW of onshore wind capacity. The new strategy will see the company build solar farms for the first time in its history. It has already submitted plan- ning applications for arrays at its Carland Cross, Coal Clough and Coldham wind farms in Cornwall, Lancashire and Cam- bridgeshire, respectively. Speaking at the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, Scot- tish Power chief executive Keith Anderson said: "Every green megawatt of electricity will be crucial if we stand any chance of hitting net zero in 2050, so inno- vation from energy companies is more important than ever. This means squeezing the absolute maximum potential out of every clean energy project that we consider. New owners to take full control of ENW Investors that acquired a 50 per cent stake in Electricity North West agree to buy the remainder The group of investors that acquired a 50 per cent stake in network operator Electricity North West earlier this year has now agreed to buy the remaining half for an undisclosed sum. The company had been owned by JP Morgan Asset Management and First State Investments since 2007. The new owners comprise the infrastructure investor Equitix and a consortium led by the Japanese utility Kansai Electric Power Company. The Hong Kong-based investment firm CNIC has also now joined the group. "We are a high-performing organisation and I'm delighted that Equitix and the Kansai-led consortium are increasing their stake in the company, and that their confidence has attracted the additional commitment of CNIC," said Electricity North West chair John Roberts. "I am extremely proud of the contribution we make to the North West every day." Niall Mills, partner at First State Investments, said: "The signing of this agreement marks the end of our 12-year journey with Electricity North West. We are incredibly proud of the development of the business during this time and we believe Electricity North West is well positioned for future challenges ahead." Hugh Crossley, chief investment officer for Equitix, said: "We are delighted to be increasing our investment in Electricity North West, one of the UK's premier distribution network operators. "We are impressed by its commitment to outper- formance, innovation and investment in the network and to providing an excellent service for its customers. As a long-term investor we are fully committed to supporting those aims for the benefit of all stakeholders." TG WATER Anglian alters its totex to meet the challenges of PR19 Anglian Water has made changes to its total expenditure and is testing a new funding model to find the efficiencies demanded by Ofwat in the PR19 dra™ determinations. The water company said it will trial Direct Procurement for Customers, as suggested by Ofwat, to fund its plans for a new treatment works. In the company's half-year preliminary results to 30 Sep- tember, chief executive Peter Simpson said: "We passionately believe that our plan is the right one to safeguard the future of our region and enable it to flour- ish. However, it is not finance- able based on Ofwat's Dra™ Determination, as we stated in our formal response in August." By changing its totex plans and accepting the Direct Pro- curement funding model, the company has made changes that will lower bills by 1.1 per cent over the coming five years. The company's revenues for the six-month period ending 30 September increased to £717 million, from £694.6 mil- lion in the same period in 2018. However Anglian made a loss before tax for the period of £116.6 million, down £234.8 mil- lion from a profit of £118.2 mil- lion in the same period last year. It said the decrease reflected reinvestment in proactive leak- age maintenance, increases in below-ground infrastructure repairs and inflationary pressure on costs. ELECTRICITY BP to increase its stake in Lightsource BP has agreed to raise its stake in the solar developer Light- source BP to 50 per cent. The rest of the business will continue to be owned by the management team and staff. BP acquired a 43 per cent share in the company in December 2017. Lightsource chief executive Nick Boyle said: "When we first announced this partnership two years ago, we made our mission very clear – that together we want to accelerate the growth of solar power worldwide and help drive the solar revolution. "Although we have already made huge strides forward in both the size and number of our projects and have rapidly expanded our global footprint, there is still so much more we can do together." Dev Sanyal, chief executive of alternative energy at BP, said: "BP is committed to helping meet the world's rapidly grow- ing demand for low-carbon energy. Solar, which is predicted to increase by a factor of ten by 2040, plays a key role in this energy transition. That is why we want to invest more in Lightsource BP." The proceeds of the trans- action, which have not been disclosed, will be available for Lightsource to invest. Roberts: "we are a high-performing organisation" "In the UK and Ireland, the perfect of blend clean power from onshore renewables should include a mixture of clean energy technologies. The costs for building wind, solar and bat- teries have reduced considerably in recent years, and they com- plement each other very well. They perform best at different times of the day and at different times of the year." This week

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