Vodafone UK agrees to buy more solar power

British telecoms giant Vodafone Group Plc (LON:VOD) has signed a new corporate solar power purchase agreement (PPA) that ensures its supply for the next ten years and supports the construction of five photovoltaic (PV) farms in England.

Vodafone has signed the off-take contract with Centrica Plc (LON:CNA), as the power supplier, and Mytilineos SA, as the generator and owner of the solar farms. The telecommunications group said in a statement on Tuesday that thanks to this new PPA, existing contracts and its purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs), about 44% of its annual energy demand will be covered by generation from UK-based renewables by 2025.

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The PPA is tied to the future output of five solar parks that will be built in Norfolk, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, Buckinghamshire and Dorset. They will have the combined capacity to produce a total of 216 GWh of electricity per year, of which Vodafone will receive a “significant proportion”. The rest will be sold through Centrica’s Energy Marketing & Trading business.

Construction of the solar farms is seen to launch this year and be completed by early 2024.

This is the second time Vodafone contracts solar farms owned by Mytilineos following last year’s 10-year deal for 55 GWh of annual power supply from three solar plants. Vodafone noted that the first of these three PV parks is already operational and the other two will be switched on in the coming months.

Separately, Vodafone also has an agreement to buy power from two onshore wind farms in Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire.