The deal will see the company receive the associated Feed-in Tariff payments and take over the operation and maintenance of the installations whilst the payments continue. In exchange, sellers will receive a cash lump sum and continue to receive power from the panels free of charge.
“There’s no question that solar PV is a sound investment,” said Lightsource chief executive Nick Boyle. “Our buyback scheme offers early adopters the chance to realise an immediate substantial return on their investment today with the added benefit of continued free solar electricity.”
Lightsource has already purchased more than 2.25MW of solar capacity across 1,000 installations in the UK as part of the scheme.
The European company was behind the 4.83MW solar farm at Belfast International Airport which became Northern Ireland’s first large-scale solar installation when it was connected up in May.