The water sector in England has made a public commitment to be net zero carbon by 2030.

Newbridge Advisors, as strategic, commercial and financial renewables advisors, worked with Anglian Water to established a solar and energy storage framework comprising experienced investors to enable it to achieve the 2030 goal.

Newbridge also advised Anglian Water prior to the award of the first project under the framework – an agreement with one of the framework partners to design, operate and own over 35MW of solar assets and sell power directly to Anglian Water through a private wire PPA for a 25-year period.

David Riley, Anglian Water’s Head of Carbon Neutrality said “We never stop looking for ways to improve what we do, to keep us ahead in a changing world, and our renewables ambition will see us integrate solar and energy storage to help us in our journey to becoming a more sustainable business.

“Ours is the driest region in the UK, particularly vulnerable to climate change and one of the fastest growing parts of the country.

“As we tackle these challenges, we are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint including increasing the amount of renewable energy we generate to help power our operations.”

Jeremy Froud, Partner at Newbridge Advisors said “We are thrilled to have helped Anglian Water establish this approach to find a partner to ultimately deliver its current on-site solar ambitions whilst also identifying a framework of credible investors that will, over time, create useful relationships, essential in such a fast evolving sector for future projects, that can only help the organisation reach its net zero carbon goals.

“Newbridge was ideally placed to support Anglian Water: the team’s water industry expertise, renewables experience and in-depth knowledge of the underling investor base, combined with our experience of achieving best value, meant Anglian Water could always be confident they were running a highly competitive process that was focused on delivery as well as pricing.”