Turkish-owned developer Gülermak Renewables has closed a £35 million senior construction facility from Germany's state-owned NORD/LB to build its 48 MW Hanningfield solar farm in Essex, England, the parties confirmed on September 25. The deal is one of the first UK bank financings clearing AR7 solar economics into project debt.
The Project
The Hanningfield site is a ground-mounted photovoltaic installation of 48 MW capacity, targeting commercial operations by August 2027. It sits within a corridor of Essex projects that grid operator National Grid ESO has identified for accelerated network connections. Gülermak Renewables — only established in 2023 — beat larger UK developers to a bank-financed close, thanks to the certainty AR7 provides.
The Capital Stack
The financing comprises three interlocking revenue layers:
- A 20-year AR7 Contract for Difference at £65.23/MWh (2024 prices) awarded by the UK government, covering 100 percent of generated electricity.
- A 10-year route-to-market Power Purchase Agreement with Mitsubishi-owned ElectroRoute, providing forecasting, balancing and intraday trading services.
- The £35 million NORD/LB senior facility completing the capital stack.
A Template For Small Developers
AR7's record allocation — 4.9 GW across 157 solar projects — is standardising financing terms across the UK renewables sector. Analysts point to Hanningfield as a "replicable template" that lets three-year-old developers access senior debt on terms previously reserved for utilities. That is the same trend visible in the NYSERDA 950 MW battery solicitation and the wave of European storage projects such as GIGA Storage's Tesla-powered Green Turtle BESS.
What's Next
Gülermak Renewables now begins site works with expected grid energisation and CfD start date in mid-2027. The company has hinted at a portfolio approach — pairing solar with battery storage to add hedged capacity market revenues on top of the CfD floor, matching the strategy AR7-cleared developers such as Enso Energy are already pursuing.
Reporting based on coverage from Discovery Alert.