Acquisition of Two Operating Solar Plants

30 May 2018

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited

("NESF" or the "Company")

Acquisition of Two Operating Solar Plants in the UK with Integrated Energy Storage

·     Acquisition of two operating solar plants (Salcey Farm and Pierces Farm) with a total capacity of 7.2MWp

·     Both sites have integrated energy storage capabilities with a combined capacity of c.1MW

·     Total investment value of £9.3m

NESF, a specialist investment company that invests primarily in UK solar power plants, is pleased to announce the acquisition of its first operating solar plants with integrated electricity storage capabilities. 

The two plants, located in Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, are accredited under 1.4ROC and FiT regimes respectively.  Each site has a battery energy storage system ("BESS") comprising a lithium-ion battery pack integrated with switchgear and transformers capable of providing frequency response and grid balancing services.

The transaction represents NESF's first entry into integrating operating solar plants with BESS.  The Company expects to continue growing its exposure in this area as the opportunity increases in scale and scope.  Its distributed portfolio of 55 sites spread across England constitutes a very attractive opportunity to deploy value-enhancing technologies such as BESS in the future.

NESF continues to pursue further transactions from its pipeline of acquisition opportunities and expects to announce additional investments in due course.

For further information:

Notes to Editors:

NESF is a specialist investment company that invests primarily in operating solar power plants in the UK. It has the authority to invest up to 15% of its Gross Asset Value in operating solar power plants in OECD countries outside the UK. The Company's objective is to secure attractive shareholder returns through RPI-linked dividends and long-term capital growth. The Company achieves this by acquiring solar power plants on agricultural, industrial and commercial sites.

NESF has raised equity proceeds of £592m since its initial public offering on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in April 2014. It also has credit facilities of £270m in place (£149m from a syndicate including MIDIS, NAB and CBA; MIDIS: £54m; ING £34m; and UniCredit £33m).

NESF is differentiated by its access to NextEnergy Capital Group (NEC Group), its Investment Manager, which has a strong track record in sourcing, acquiring and managing operating solar assets.  WiseEnergy is NEC Group's specialist operating asset management division and over the course of its activities has been providing operating asset management, monitoring, technical due diligence and other services to over 1,            300 utility-scale solar power plants with an installed capacity in excess of 1.9 GW.

Further information on NESF, NEC Group and WiseEnergy is available at www.nextenergysolarfund.com, www.nextenergycapital.com and www.wise-energy.eu.