Cambridge office set to power OnPath's growth

A North East renewable energy developer is expanding its footprint across England as it accelerates plans to deliver new clean energy projects and strengthen its national presence.

Sunderland-headquartered OnPath Energy has opened a new office at the St John’s Innovation Centre in Cambridge, supporting its ambition to become the country’s leading renewable energy developer.

The investment follows the company’s first move into southern England last year through the acquisition of the seven-turbine Milton Keynes Wind Farm in Buckinghamshire. 

It is now identifying new sites for onshore wind farms across the south, with a number of potential locations already under consideration.

Richard Dunkley, chief executive at OnPath Energy, said: “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.

“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.

“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.” 

OnPath has developed 14 onshore wind farms across the UK and is currently delivering three renewable energy projects, including a wind farm in southern Scotland, a solar farm near Leeds and a combined solar and battery storage scheme near Rotherham. 

Several more developments are progressing through the planning system.

The company aims to invest around £1 billion in clean energy projects by the end of the decade and expects to bring forward several new proposals in England over the next 12 months, while continuing to explore opportunities across Scotland and Wales.

Through its OnPath Together initiative, the company has pledged to invest £1 million per megawatt of generating capacity within 65km of each new onshore wind farm and target 65 per cent lifetime local supply chain spend.

Last year, OnPath also distributed more than £1.2 million through community funds linked to its wind farms, supporting projects and good causes in surrounding areas.

Richard added: “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.”

OnPath is owned by Brookfield Asset Management, one of the world’s largest dedicated transition investors, with more than 46,000MW of operating capacity globally.

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