Comment on Proposed Changes to UK Regulation

RNS Number : 9905T

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited

24 July 2015

 

24 July 2015

NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited ("NESF", or the "Company")

Proposed Changes to Regulation of Solar Assets in the United Kingdom Announced

The Department of Energy and Climate Change ("DECC") has announced consultations on proposed changes to the Renewable Obligations ("RO") and Feed-in-Tariff ("FIT")support schemes for sub-5MW solar assets (the "Consultations")

The proposals under the Consultations would have no impact on the 18 projects totaling 234.5MW already acquired by NESF or on its target dividend policy.

NESF's pipeline of growth opportunities includes a significant number of projects that would not be impacted by the proposed changes, or that would qualify for a Grace Period under the Consultations.  In addition, NESF believes that there remains a material pipeline of opportunities for growth up to 2020.

The NextEnergy Capital Group, the parent of NESF's Investment Advisor NextEnergy Capital IM Limited, continues to leverage its long-standing experience as an investor and leading asset manager in the solar sector to focus on reducing solar investment and operating costs to meet a decreasing-subsidy and no-subsidy market in the future.

For further information:

NextEnergy Capital Limited	020 3239 9054
Michael Bonte-Friedheim
Aldo Beolchini
Cantor Fitzgerald Europe	020 7894 7667
Sue Inglis
Shore Capital	020 7408 4090
Bidhi Bhoma
Anita Ghanekar
Macquarie Capital (Europe) Limited	020 3037 2000
Ken Fleming
Nick Stamp
MHP Communications	020 3128 8100
Andrew Leach / Jamie Ricketts / Eleanor Mahmoud

Notes to Editors:

NextEnergy Solar Fund (NESF)

NESF is a specialist investment company that invests in operating solar power plants in the UK.  Its 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 £246.6m since its initial public offering on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in April 2014.  Its credit facilities include a two-year revolving facility of £31.5m from Macquarie and a £22.7 million facility from NIBC. 

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, providing solar asset management, monitoring and other services to over 1,200 utility-scale solar power plants with an installed capacity in excess of 1.5 GW.

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

 

END

 

 

MSCLIFVRDAISFIE