UK green power provider Renewable Energy Generation has extended its contracts with National Grid to provide Short Term Operating Reserve (‘STOR’) through its existing 26MW bio-power plants.
STOR allows the UK’s National Grid to source reserve power in specified periods to meet demand when greater than forecast, or shortfalls in generation such as during unexpected plant downtime.
REG has extended its contract on 8MW of its bio-power plants for a further12 months until March 2017. The contract for its 18MW bio-power plant at Whitemoor has been extended by six months to October 2016, allowing for a more flexible contracting strategy across the 2016 winter period for this project.
The firm’s Bio-Power’s plants are fuelled by a patented, proprietary bioliquid derived from used cooking oil and so are eligible for support under the Renewables Obligation mechanism.
Chief executive Andrew Whalley said: “Winning STOR contract extensions further demonstrates the suitability of REG Bio-Power’s flexible plant to operate in this critically important market and in-turn provides revenue visibility for the REG Bio-Power division.
REG plans to deliver additional capacity in the coming 18 months in line with its strategy to operate 300MW of renewable energy projects by 2018.
REG said it has decided not to proceed with the proposed issue of zero dividend preference (ZDP) shares, in part because of changes in the regulatory environment for onshore wind generating assets.
The company will stick with a combination of third party asset finance, the recycling of capital through selective asset sales, and the reinvestment of revenues generated from its 111MW of assets across its wind, solar and bio-power divisions.
Mr Whalley said, “We have always had multiple funding options at our disposal with which to roll-out our growing portfolio of consented assets to maximise returns for our shareholders.”
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