Railpen, the manager of the £34bn railways pension scheme in the UK, through its portfolio company AGR Power, has secured a long term contract with the UK Government for four solar projects, marking a major contribution to the UK’s clean energy ambitions.
AGR’s projects in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, totalling a combined 146.41MW, were awarded a strike price of £65.23MWhr in the government’s Contract for Difference Allocation Auction Round 7 (AR7).
The contract is the culmination of many years of work across land, planning, grid, procurement and construction from the AGR and Railpen team. Development activity will now progress into the early stages of construction.
Through the contracts, the four projects will contribute to securing the UK’s energy security, provide clean energy in line with the government’s ambitions and serve as a power price hedge to consumers at a time when energy costs have been volatile for many of Railpen’s members in recent years.
The UK Government predicts that the AR7 will unlock an additional £5bn of private investment and support up to 10,000 jobs.
“This significant milestone in the UK’s clean energy ambition highlights the importance of long term, patient investment in the UK,” said Lewis Vanstone, head of infrastructure at Railpen.
This latest comes three years after Railpen first expanded into solar energy with its acquisition of Bracks Solar Farm, Cambridgeshire, in January 2023.
The 30MWp capacity solar farm started operating at 100% capacity in October 2023, and now supplies clean energy to the equivalent of 8,000 UK households a year.
Railpen plans to grow the size of its infrastructure portfolio from around £1bn currently to £2bn-£3bn over the next five years. Around 75% of this will be invested in the UK.
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