OVO has announced plans to launch a renewable energy company that will focus on repowering onshore wind farms. The company says its new OVO Renewables subsidiary is its first move into energy generation (apart from domestic PV for its customers) and the company will start with an initial investment of hundreds of millions of pounds, delivering up to 500MW of capacity.
OVO says repowering, instead of finding new sites, can improve onshore wind farms, extend their lifespan and boost output and repowered wind farms are more acceptable to communities than either the original turbines or new developments on greenfield land.
Polling for OVO found that while 60% of the public would support a new wind farm built on undeveloped land nearby, support jumps to 81% for upgrades to existing sites, and rises to 84% when people are told that newer turbines are quieter, more efficient, and require fewer turbines.
Subject to necessary approvals, OVO Renewables plans to work in partnership with NextLife Energy – a specialist UK renewable energy investor and developer, to source, acquire, manage and redevelop onshore wind projects across the UK.