The collaboration provides Two Blues Solar (TBS) with substantial investment capital for the next five years, enabling the deployment of capex-free on-site solar projects for energy-intensive businesses.
In 2023, renewable energy accounted for 42 per cent of the UK’s total energy production, with solar energy contributing five per cent of this total.
Several barriers hinder its widespread use, such as significant upfront capital investment, capacity constraints on the national grid, and the perception that solar energy is land intensive.
“TBS was founded to put solar in places where it makes business sense but has been overlooked – and this joint venture enables us to install approximately 300 new on-site solar projects with a combined capacity of up to 120MW,” Dillon Cane, co-founder of TBS, said in a statement. “There are hundreds of thousands of square meters of underutilised commercial roof space in the UK. Mounting solar panels on a roof of 2,500sqm – a medium-sized factory or warehouse – could generate around 320,000kWh of electricity a year, saving 72 tonnes of carbon. But the initial cost of installation is a barrier for many commercial customers.”
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TBS mounts solar panels on commercial roof space or nearby land, selling the energy to the client via a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) at rates up to 60 per cent lower than traditional utility companies.
The installation process can be completed in as little as twenty-six weeks, after which TBS retains ownership of the panels and takes responsibility for ongoing maintenance.
"There’s a ‘missed middle’ in the PPA market,” said Rachel Stark, commercial director of TBS. “We’re serving medium-sized businesses with large vacant roof space or available land and high energy requirements – such as warehouse operators, manufacturers, and commercial property landlords. These projects are often overlooked by traditional banks or funding providers as they’re considered too small or won’t meet their rigid investment criteria.”
True Green Capital Management is a specialised renewable energy infrastructure private equity firm that has invested into a distributed solar power generation portfolio across 16 US states and France. The partnership with TBS, from its fourth fund, is its first investment in the United Kingdom.
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