OnPath Energy expanding English operations with new Cambridge office investment

Leading UK renewables developer OnPath Energy is aiming to grow its operational presence across the south of England after opening a new office in Cambridge.

Sunderland-headquartered OnPath has set up a new base at the St John’s Innovation Centre on the northern edge of the city at part of its drive towards becoming the UK’s leading renewable energy developer.

Having operated in the north of England and Scotland over the last two decades, OnPath Energy made its first move south at the beginning of last year with the acquisition of the seven turbine Milton Keynes Wind Farm in Buckinghamshire.

And it is now working to identify potential new sites for onshore wind farms across the south of England, with a number of potential locations already being considered.

OnPath Energy has so far successfully built out 14 onshore wind farms across the UK, and is currently building out three renewable energy projects – a wind farm in Southern Scotland, a solar farm near Leeds, and a co-located solar and battery scheme near Rotherham. Several more projects at different stages of the planning process are also already in development.

It is aiming to invest around one billion pounds in clean energy projects by the end of the decade and is committed to making supply chain investments of £1 million per MW within 65km of each of its new onshore wind farm sites.

OnPath is expecting to bring forward several new development proposals in England over the next year and is exploring a range of potential new onshore wind farm locations across England, Scotland and Wales.

Richard Dunkley, CEO at OnPath Energy, says:

“With the removal of the effective decade-long ban on new onshore wind farms in England in 2024, we’ve been looking to widen our operational presence across the country and are working on bringing forward several new English projects .

Onshore wind energy is playing an increasingly important role in the UK’s long-term energy security strategy and the reduction of our reliance on imported fossil fuels that are brought in from potentially unstable locations.”

Richard Dunkley, CEO at OnPath Energy

“Establishing a presence in such a well-connected and economically vibrant area as Cambridge gives us a base from which we can continue to identify new onshore wind farm sites, which will enable us to deliver a wide range of economic, environmental, energy security, employment and social benefits to communities across the south of England – and most importantly, the new office will enable us to talk directly to those communities where we hope to be developing projects.” 

As part of its OnPath Together approach, the company commits to delivering local economic benefit by investing £1 million per megawatt of generating capacity in the areas around its new onshore wind farms and sets a target of 65% lifetime spend on a wind farm being within the local supply chain.

It also awarded a total of over £1.2m in grants during its last financial year from the community funds linked to each of its onshore wind farms, which provide financial support for projects being undertaken by groups and good causes in the communities around each project.

OnPath Energy is owned by the world’s largest dedicated transition investor, leading global infrastructure firm Brookfield Asset Management, which has over 46,000 megawatts of operating capacity worldwide.

Richard Dunkley continues: “Alongside developing our own projects from first principles, we’re also looking to identify other opportunities at every stage of the lifecycle, from pre-construction right through to operational wind farms and project repowering.

“Our aim is invest around one billion pounds in total in clean energy projects by the end of the decade and to help support a just transition that is fair and inclusive for everyone including local communities and businesses, supported by our corporate commitment to making supply chain investments of £1 million per MW within 65km of each of its new onshore wind farm sites.

“Discussions are already ongoing with landowners and land agents across the south of England about potential locations for new onshore wind farms, and we’ll now be using our Cambridge office to widen our search in order to maximise the number of sites we can consider bringing into our project development pipeline.”