BWCE has been successful in raising £5.1 million to buy a solar PV farm at Portworthy North of Plymouth. £900K was raised following a more than successful share issue in the Autumn combined with a further £1.7 million raised by a bond issue in January and £2.4 million of debt finance has allowed BWCE to buy this substantial solar farm.
BWCE stepped in to help Plymouth Energy Community raise the finance when the opportunity arose to purchase the farm from the developer. Due to construction timescales, communities local to the solar array site were not in a position to purchase the solar array themselves straight away. . Without BWCE’s involvement, the solar array might have been lost as a community scheme. BWCE plans to allow the local communities the opportunity to buy into the solar array at the end of the initial 2 year term of this bond.
The 4MW solar farm is currently being built in the old Lee Moor China Clay works, and will provide enough electricity to power more than 1,000 homes:
