A £260 million low-carbon investment fund is looking to develop 22 solar energy projects around Cornwall.

Solar guidance attracts £260m fundCirencester and London-based Low Carbon Solar Partners (LCSP) is the latest prospective developer to meet with Cornwall Council planners, in the so-called solar energy gold rush.LCSP, which manages the £260 million Low Carbon Accelerator AIM-listed pensions fund, wants to invest in a combination of solar “meadow” developments, roof-space lease and community-funded solar projects.It says that Cornwall Council’s clear planning guidance for solar developers has created an attractive proposition for major city investors.Last year, the fund invested £70 million in solar farms in Spain.The group’s founding partner, Tavistock-born Mark Shorrock said: “Cornwall Council is offering clear planning guidance on solar developments and suddenly, it’s really clear to investors what the third-party risk is – which is usually the planners and grid connection.”There is about £8.6 trillion available in the London investment market in pensions and insurance but there has been zero in renewables, due to uncertainties.”Cornwall Council has gone about this in a studied way, so [funds] can start making long-term investments.”The Government Feed-in Tariff, launched in April, promises developers a financial incentive of 29 pence for each kilowatt-hour of “green” electricity fed to the National Grid. LCSP has offered its institutional investors a 12 per cent return on its fund.The LCSP-managed fund will leverage bank funding towards the solar projects it aims to develop. It will cost around £2.85 million for LCSP to deploy the technology required to generate each megawatt of solar power.LCSP is also working in partnership with Energy for All to support community-funded solar programmes in Cornwall. It is currently in discussion to launch one such parish project, in Newlyn East. Mr Shorrock says that these schemes could net communities £750,000 over 25 years.It is additionally seeking big commercial premises with roof space of 10,000sqft or more, on which to install photovoltaics. Owners would benefit from reduced energy bills and an annual rent of around £1000.Mr Shorrock said that landowners could receive around £12,000 to £15,000 per megawatt of solar electricity generated from their land.Mr Shorrock added that LCSP is also implementing a training scheme available to 50 Westcountry contractors wishing to upgrade their skills. It is seeking electrical engineers wishing to acquire solar-ready DC skills, plus roofers and ground workers.It has launched a ‘learning by doing programme’ in partnership with German solar giant Colexon and will fly candidates to Germany to undergo site-based training.Mr Shorrock said: “We’ve only got six months to train people up, so when we start our solar developments, we can begin with local labour. We’d like to train an initial 50- who can then down-train further local workers.”If people are interested, then we can even get them on a plane, next week.”