EDF agrees seven-year PPA with Scottish windfarm

EDF has penned a seven-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to offtake renewable energy generated from a 220MW onshore windfarm in Scotland.

The North Kyle windfarm is under construction by developer Brockwell Energy in East Ayrshire and is due to become commercially operational in early 2025.

Once complete, the project will have a capacity of 220.5MW and will be capable of delivering approximately 630GWh of energy each year – enough to power 217,000 homes.

The windfarm is to be built on or around a former coal mining site, which EDF says will help deliver “investment and regeneration benefits into the area”.

“An important consideration in the project creation was to provide additional funding to assist with the restoration of the former mining site, improve public access and provide a truly ground-breaking community benefit programme,” an EDF spokesperson added.

Brockwell secured a Contract for Difference (CfD) in allocation round 4 (AR4) for the project. The developer was formed in 2017 to raise investment capital to develop an £800 million portfolio of energy projects, predominantly in Scotland, on and around former coal mining sites.

Tom Abbott, head of PPA at EDF, said: “It’s great to be definitively helping Britain achieve net zero through this PPA agreement, which will bring new renewables onto our grid via this new onshore windfarm in Scotland.

“We are delighted to be offtaking 100% of the renewable wind power from North Kyle, demonstrating EDF’s expertise in offering all types of PPA. Particularly in this case with a project that received a CfD, and our commitment to supporting new renewable projects.”

David Surtees, commercial manager at Brockwell Energy, said: “EDF has been a great counterparty to deal with. We set ourselves tight deadlines for closing the project and the EDF team was supportive and responsive throughout the process.

“EDF’s deep expertise in structuring PPA’s for renewable projects helped us to quickly get an optimal solution that addressed the needs of equity and debt providers.”