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Solar Firm Collapses, Owing UK Taxpayers £655 Million

  • Toucan Energy’s 53 solar farms to be sold off by administrator
  • Thurrock Council in Essex loaned the company £655 million
Photovoltaic panels on a Solar Farm in Hailsham, U.K.

Photovoltaic panels on a Solar Farm in Hailsham, U.K.

Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Corrected

A solar energy company has fallen into administration after racking up more than half a billion pounds in debt to a local authority in Essex, southern England.

Toucan Energy Holdings 1 Ltd., which owns 53 solar farms across the country and was owned by the financier Liam Kavanagh, had borrowed £655 million ($773 million) over four years from Thurrock Council to fuel its expansion.