Solarcentury is the UK's largest solar company. Solarcentury was founded in 1998 by former oil geologist

Jeremy Leggett Jeremy Leggett is a British social entrepreneur and writer. He founded and was a board director of Solarcentury from 1997 to 2020, an international solar solutions company, and founded and was chair of SolarAid, a charity funded with 5% of Sola ...

, and had an annual turnover of £168 million in 2015–16. The company is in partnership with

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

-based

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leve ...

ECOSolar, and have acquired the 400MW Divisa Project in Panama. Solarcentury gives a 5% share of profits to

SolarAid SolarAid is an international development charity which is working to create a sustainable market for solar lights in Africa. In line with the Sustainable Development Goal 7: "Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy fo ...

, a charity founded by Solarcentury in 2006, that supplies mini home-solar installations in Africa on a pay as you go basis.

History

In May 2017, the company announced that it was shifting its focus from the UK, where 85% of its business is, and pursuing £3 billion of projects in Latin America and Europe. In 2019 Solarcentury announced an eightfold increase in annual profits to £14.4 million, largely due to constructing and operating unsubsidised solar farms in southern Europe, Latin America and Africa. In November 2020, the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

renewables company Statkraft announced it had acquired Solarcentury, taking full control of the company.

References

External links

Solar energy companies of Europe 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom {{energy-company-stub