IN Brief:
- Elgin has signed three 15-year power purchase agreements with Erova Energy Group.
- The CfD-backed portfolio totals 112.6MW across Wales, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire.
- The projects require two 33kV distribution connections and a 132kV transmission connection.
Elgin has signed three 15-year power purchase agreements with Erova Energy Group covering a 112.6MW portfolio of UK solar projects.
The agreements apply to developments under construction in South Wales, Leicestershire, and Staffordshire. Each project has secured support through the Contracts for Difference mechanism, while the PPAs establish the commercial route through which generated electricity will be sold and balanced.
Maes Mawr in South Wales, Aston Flamville in Leicestershire, and Thorpe Estate in Staffordshire are expected to produce approximately 90 million kWh of electricity annually once all three projects reach full operation.
Erova will act as power offtaker under the agreements, assuming defined responsibilities for the sale, forecasting, metering, balancing, and settlement of output. The CfD operates separately by settling the difference between the project’s contracted strike price and the relevant wholesale reference price.
Although both mechanisms support long-term revenues, they perform different functions. The CfD limits exposure to wholesale-price movements, whereas the PPA establishes how electricity enters the market and allocates the operational and commercial risks surrounding actual generation.
Revenue will begin only after the photovoltaic equipment, substations, cables, protection systems, metering, and network interfaces have been completed and the projects have satisfied the conditions required for energisation and commercial operation.
Connections define the construction programme
The three developments require distinct network interfaces. Aston Flamville will connect through a dual 33kV cable to the local overhead network, while Maes Mawr requires a new 33kV connection with associated protection and control equipment.
Thorpe Estate, the largest project at 61.9MW, will connect at 132kV into existing overhead transmission infrastructure. That interface introduces more extensive requirements for protection coordination, telecommunications, switching, earthing, fault duty, outage planning, and operational control.
G2 Energy, Mitie’s independent connection provider, is delivering the high-voltage design, cabling, substations, transformers, switchgear, protection, control, testing, and commissioning set out across the three-project connection programme.
At 33kV, export must remain within local thermal, voltage, and fault-level limits. Solar generation can raise voltage on circuits originally designed around power flowing from primary substations towards demand, requiring detailed studies, suitable transformer settings, and active export controls.
The 132kV project faces a broader set of network-code and operational requirements. Equipment procurement, outage availability, telecommunications interfaces, and access to the existing transmission infrastructure can all become critical-path activities.
Forecasting also becomes integral to commercial performance because solar output changes with irradiance, cloud cover, module temperature, curtailment, and equipment availability. Differences between forecast and actual generation create imbalance volumes that must be managed under the PPA.
Long-term revenue rests on electrical availability
A 15-year offtake period extends far beyond construction and places sustained emphasis on asset condition. Module degradation, inverter performance, transformer condition, switchgear maintenance, vegetation management, cable faults, and communications availability all influence the electricity delivered for settlement.
Metering equipment must remain accurate and compliant throughout the agreement. Half-hourly data support commercial settlement, while communications failures or missing information require validated substitution processes and can delay reconciliation.
The CfD introduces its own administrative and operational obligations. Projects must satisfy milestone and commissioning requirements, retain compliance with the contract, and provide the data needed to calculate difference payments.
Negative wholesale prices and network curtailment are becoming more common as solar deployment grows. High output from many projects during the same daylight hours can compress market prices, while constrained circuits may prevent individual sites from exporting their full available generation.
The PPAs therefore operate within a broader technical system shaped by forecasting, network availability, dispatch instructions, balancing costs, and maintenance timing. Long-term price support cannot compensate for electricity that cannot be generated, exported, measured, or settled.
Equipment lead times will also affect the delivery sequence. High-voltage transformers, protection panels, switchgear, and cable systems can require longer procurement periods than photovoltaic modules, making early design approval and coordinated manufacturing slots essential.
Testing forms the final interface between construction and commercial operation. Protection injection, transformer tests, cable withstand testing, SCADA checks, metering verification, inverter compliance, and network witness procedures must be completed before sustained export begins.
The PPAs give Elgin a defined route to market for all three developments, while the CfDs provide long-term price stabilisation. Completion of the two 33kV connections and the 132kV transmission interface will determine when the contracted capacity can begin supplying electricity at full commercial scale.
