Lark Energy Group collapsed in in mid-2017 leaving a trail of debt of over £20 million.
Prior to that it described itself as:
Lark Energy Group is an award-winning provider of commercial and utility scale renewable energy schemes encompassing a wide range of renewables – particularly solar photovoltaic and biomass as well as conventional energy sources.
Our skills and services start with initial feasibility studies and run through to securing planning permission then building, operating and maintaining the facilities.
We can supply a ‘total package’ consisting of all these services or just a selection to tailor the requirements of our clients.
Whether you want to improve the return on investment of your land or property assets, cut your energy bills, manage power and maintain generation facilities, build new power generation facilities or reduce energy usage, we have a solution for you.
We have completed a number of high profile alternative energy schemes and solar farms across the UK.
We care continually helping farmers and landowners with farm diversification projects. Lark Energy Group can deliver agricultural solar farms or commercial rooftop installations to landowners, farmers, businesses and schools anywhere in the UK.
In addition, we offer a range of other renewable energy solutions including biomass and gas powered generation and waste-to-energy plants.
What Lark Energy was
- Lark Energy (based in Lincolnshire) developed large‐scale solar farms (for example a 3.4 MW solar farm near Whittlesey in 2012) under its parent Larkfleet Homes Group. opportunitypeterborough.co.uk
- It’s listed in Companies House as company number 10760734, with registered office at Larkfleet House, Southfields Business Park, Bourne, England. GOV.UK Company Information
- At one point it underwent a name change to Renewables Solar (UK) Limited (as a successor entity) and several of its business units (construction, commercial, etc) were involved. Solar Power Portal
The collapse / what went wrong
- In mid-2017 several business units of Lark Energy were shut down and jobs lost. It described this as a “re-organisation”, though in practice the solar development & construction arm became unsustainable. Solar Power Portal
- On ~1 August 2017 it was reported that Renewables Solar (UK) Ltd (formerly Lark Energy Ltd) would be wound up voluntarily because liabilities had grown too large. Renewables Now
- The statement of affairs revealed that the company owed approx. £48.6 million to creditors. Building
- Specifically, one document found that Lark Energy’s main entity (Renewables Solar (UK) Ltd) had about £26 million of debt spread across over 230 trade creditors. It also owed nearly £20 million in trade debt at the time of collapse.
- A big driver of the financial problems: major reduction in the UK solar market (due to government subsidy cuts), and the failure of subcontractors to deliver/schedule works, which impacted profitability. Renewables Now
Aftermath & status
- The original company (Lark Energy Ltd) is recorded as dissolved as of 26 March 2019 in Companies House.
- Some of the solar farms that were under Lark Energy’s development continue to be maintained by other entities (for example a subsidiary was still maintaining Scottish solar farms previously under Lark’s stewardship) despite the liquidation. energyvoice.com
- Creditor recoveries appear to be very limited: in one report, only ~£740,000 was expected to be realised from trade and other debtors when the statement of affairs was filed.
Why this matters / key lessons
- The solar sector in the UK saw a dramatic contraction when subsidy regimes (e.g., feed-in tariffs) were cut back. Lark Energy cited that industry decline as a key cause.
- The collapse illustrates how exposure to large scale project risk and reliance on subcontractors can amplify financial stress in renewables.
- For creditors/employees, this kind of collapse shows the risk exposure: many trade creditors were left unpaid; employees faced redundancy; and ongoing operations needed to be taken over by other firms.