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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Chapelcross Solar Farm

Nuclear Restoration Services Limited · compiled

Tender information last checkedLast checked 30 Sept 2026, 04:36.

Opportunity overview

The contracting authority, Nuclear Restoration Services Limited (“NRS”) will be entering into a 40-year lease and power purchase agreement (with an option to terminate the arrangement at 25 years) with a special purpose vehicle named Chapelcross Energy Project Limited (“CEPL”) relating to land at NRS’ site at the former Chapelcross nuclear power station which has been defueled and is being decommissioned. NRS is contracting with CEPL as nominated and wholly owned by Green Energy International Limited (“GEIL”) on the basis of Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulation 2015.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

Contract value
£24m
Awarded
Not supplied
Contract signed
18 Jun 2025
Award ID
033795-2025-1
Status
active
Identifier
15906753
Location
stockport, UK, sk7 5da, United Kingdom

Classification

  • CPV09330000 — Solar energy

Lots

  • The contracting authority, Nuclear Restoration Services Limited (“NRS”) will be entering into a 40-year lease and power purchase agreement (with an option to terminate the arrangement at 25 years) with a special purpose vehicle named Chapelcross Energy Project Limited (“CEPL”) relating to land at NRS’ site at the former Chapelcross nuclear power station which has been defueled and is being decommissioned (the “Site”). CEPL is wholly owned by Green Energy International Limited (“GEIL”) and intends to develop the Jockstown Fam solar farm which is adjacent to the Site. <br/><br/>In 2019 NRS began exploring options for a solar farm development at the Site. Following various technical and commercial studies which considered grid connection availability, NRS identified that the only commercially and technically feasible option which could guarantee the necessary grid connection was by contracting with CEPL. This is because GEIL currently holds the grid connection, which will be novated across to CEPL in order for CEPL to develop the Site. <br/><br/>The technical and commercial reports revealed no reasonable alternative options. As such on 29.11.21 NRS commenced formal negotiations with GEIL as the ultimate owner of CEPL pursuant to Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Such negotiations have continued throughout the intervening period and NRS now intends to contract with CEPL by way of a lease and related power purchase agreement. Both agreements are necessary to achieve NRS’s requirements, and it is not possible to sever these agreements for this reason. <br/><br/>The purpose of the lease is to enable CEPL to construct a – 10MW solar energy farm on the Chapelcross site, in parallel with the Jockstown Farm solar farm, and under the power purchase agreement NRS will agree to purchase an amount of electricity from that on site solar farm development which will be used to power the Chapelcross site, and any surplus will be netted off other NES sites demand via an electricity sleeving arrangement with EDF (NOTE the EDF arrangement is a separately procured arrangement (through a CCS framework) which is not the subject of this VEAT).<br/><br/>NRS will not enter into the contract until a period of at least 10 calendar days has passed following publication of the notice.Value not stated

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
ocds-h6vhtk-055038
Status
complete
Procurement Method
limited
Main Procurement Category
goods
Procurement Method Details
Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
Why this procedure was chosen
NRS is awarding the lease and power purchase agreement to CEPL in accordance with the provisions of regulation 32 of the Public Contract Regulations 2015. <br/><br/>NRS concluded, based on the outcome of a technical report on grid availability (commissioned 2022 and published March 2023) and commercial advice, that the requirements of Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) had been satisfied for the following technical reasons: <br/>(1) The adjacency of the Jockstown Farm solar farm to the Site which is necessary so as to make the development of a solar farm on the Site a viable proposition. A commercial assessment has demonstrated that the development of a 10MW solar farm on the Site would be unviable/uneconomical and, as such, the development by NRS of the Site in isolation would not be a reasonable alternative. GEIL’s [ownership/leasehold interest] in the Site and its novation of the grid connection to CEPL means that NRS is dependent on CEPL developing the Jockstown Farm solar form and therefore CEPL is in an exclusive position.<br/>(2) GEIL has a connection offer from Scottish Power Energy Networks and the absence of alternative grid capacity/connection prior to 2028 meant that an alternative solar farm could not be developed by an alternative developer in/around the Site. Jockstown Farm creates the opportunity as the land that GEIL obtained access to has a lower generation capacity than the headroom in the connection agreement. Whilst NRS was aware that there were other developers in the area seeking connections post 2028, they did not consider this to offer a reasonable alternative due to the delay which it would cause to the project (with resulting economic and carbon savin loss). <br/><br/>NRS therefore reasonably concluded that Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) had been satisfied and commenced formal negotiations with GEIL [as ultimate owner of CEPL], in respect of contracting with CEPL on this basis.

Covered By

GPA

Legal basis

Id
32014L0025
Scheme
CELEX

Classification

Id
09330000
Scheme
CPV
Description
Solar energy

Procedure reasons

Entry 1
Id
D_OUTSIDE_SCOPE
Scheme
TED_PT_AWARD_CONTRACT_WITHOUT_CALL
Description
The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Has Options
No
Description
The contracting authority, Nuclear Restoration Services Limited (“NRS”) will be entering into a 40-year lease and power purchase agreement (with an option to terminate the arrangement at 25 years) with a special purpose vehicle named Chapelcross Energy Project Limited (“CEPL”) relating to land at NRS’ site at the former Chapelcross nuclear power station which has been defueled and is being decommissioned (the “Site”). CEPL is wholly owned by Green Energy International Limited (“GEIL”) and intends to develop the Jockstown Fam solar farm which is adjacent to the Site. <br/><br/>In 2019 NRS began exploring options for a solar farm development at the Site. Following various technical and commercial studies which considered grid connection availability, NRS identified that the only commercially and technically feasible option which could guarantee the necessary grid connection was by contracting with CEPL. This is because GEIL currently holds the grid connection, which will be novated across to CEPL in order for CEPL to develop the Site. <br/><br/>The technical and commercial reports revealed no reasonable alternative options. As such on 29.11.21 NRS commenced formal negotiations with GEIL as the ultimate owner of CEPL pursuant to Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015. Such negotiations have continued throughout the intervening period and NRS now intends to contract with CEPL by way of a lease and related power purchase agreement. Both agreements are necessary to achieve NRS’s requirements, and it is not possible to sever these agreements for this reason. <br/><br/>The purpose of the lease is to enable CEPL to construct a – 10MW solar energy farm on the Chapelcross site, in parallel with the Jockstown Farm solar farm, and under the power purchase agreement NRS will agree to purchase an amount of electricity from that on site solar farm development which will be used to power the Chapelcross site, and any surplus will be netted off other NES sites demand via an electricity sleeving arrangement with EDF (NOTE the EDF arrangement is a separately procured arrangement (through a CCS framework) which is not the subject of this VEAT).<br/><br/>NRS will not enter into the contract until a period of at least 10 calendar days has passed following publication of the notice.

Award criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
price

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Delivery Location

Description
Chapelcross

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UK

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Id
GB-FTS-109710
Name
Nuclear Restoration Services Limited

Roles

buyer

Address

Region
UK
Locality
Warrington
Postal Code
WA3 6GR
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Hinton House, Birchwood Park Avenue, Risley

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
TED_CE_ACTIVITY
Description
Nuclear Decommissioning

Identifier

Id
02264251
Legal Name
Nuclear Restoration Services Limited

Contact

Name
Roger Wrayford
Organisation 2
Id
GB-FTS-151980
Name
Chapelcross Energy Project limited

Roles

supplier

Address

Region
UK
Locality
stockport
Postal Code
sk7 5da
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Trinity House, Newby Road, Hazel Grove

Details

Scale
sme

Identifier

Id
15906753
Legal Name
Chapelcross Energy Project limited
Organisation 3
Id
GB-FTS-6953
Name
Royal Courts Of Justice

Roles

reviewBody
mediationBody

Address

Locality
London
Postal Code
WC2A 2LL
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Strand

Details

Identifier

Legal Name
Royal Courts Of Justice

Contact

Organisation 4
Id
GB-FTS-109712
Name
Nuclear Restoration Services Limited

Roles

reviewContactPoint

Address

Locality
Warrington
Postal Code
WA3 6GR
Country Name
United Kingdom
Street Address
Hinton House, Birchwood Park Avenue, Risley

Details

Identifier

Legal Name
Nuclear Restoration Services Limited

Contact

Award information

Award 1
Id
033795-2025-1
Status
active

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-FTS-151980
Name
Chapelcross Energy Project limited

Related lots

1

Contracts and changes

Entry 1
Id
033795-2025-1
Status
active
Award ID
033795-2025-1
Date Signed
19 Jun 2025, 00:00

Value

Amount
24,000,000
Currency
GBP

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Warrington · UK · WA3 6GR · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UK

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. ocds-h6vhtk-055038-2025-06-19T15:44:04+01:00compiled ·