Mark Lammey  for EnergyVoice:  A major bank’s decision to throw its weight behind a floating solar power scheme shows the sector is rich with commercial potential, bosses at engineering consultancy OST Energy said.

OST acted as technical adviser for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) during the early stages of the project to bring Europe’s largest floating photovoltaic solar project to financial close earlier this year.

The 6.3 Megawatt peak (MWp) array, installed by Lightsource Renewable Energy, is the first project of its kind to secure European bank financing.

It now provides a source of clean energy to water utilities company, Thames Water, on the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir west of London.

Thames Water will buy all energy generated by the project as part of a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Lightsource.  Cont'd...