L&G NTR Clean Power (Europe) Fund III has secured Fair Oaks Renewable Energy Park in Nottinghamshire from Ridge Clean Energy, adding a ready-to-build hybrid asset with 75.4 MWp of solar PV and a 49.9 MW / 99.8 MWh battery energy storage system. The project already has planning consent, a grid connection offer, and a Contract for Difference, with construction expected in 2026 and commercial operations targeted for early 2028.

What changed is not simply that another UK solar project traded. Buyers are increasingly prioritising hybrid assets that combine grid access, storage, and revenue certainty. Fair Oaks fits that profile exactly: it is contracted, late-stage, and built to optimise grid use rather than just add generation.

That lines up with broader European M&A signals. Enerdatics found that Europe’s renewable M&A shifted sharply toward BESS and solar-plus-storage, with investors showing stronger appetite for hybrid assets and late-stage, shovel-ready portfolios. In H1 2025, listed players across Europe also pivoted toward RtB and operational assets as investors demanded near-term cash flows.

For L&G and NTR, Fair Oaks is commercially attractive because the battery improves dispatch flexibility while the CfD reduces revenue risk. For developers like Ridge, this type of transaction shows that hybridisation is becoming a monetisation strategy, not just a design choice.

That is the real signal from Nottinghamshire: in the UK, hybrid solar BESS is moving into the premium tier of clean energy M&A.

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