Quinbrook’s Project Fortress Wins the Largest Solar CfD Award in Latest Auction 350 MW – EQ Mag Pro
The largest consented solar+ storage project in the UK has secured a 15-year Contract for Difference, providing long term revenues fully indexed to CPI and offering uncapped inflation protection
Project Fortress is set to provide critical support for the UK power grid, additional long-term reduction of carbon emissions and positive ESG impacts
London – 13 July, 2022 – Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners (“Quinbrook”), a specialist global investment manager focused exclusively on the new infrastructure needed for the energy transition, announced today that its consented 350 MW solar + battery storage project, located in Kent, UK (“Project Fortress”) has secured a 15-year Contract for Difference (“CfD”) in the latest auction round.
Project Fortress was the largest solar PV project to secure a CfD in round 4, which enabled a record amount of renewable energy to be secured through the biggest ever round of the UK government’s flagship auction scheme. The Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”) confirmed that the fourth round of the CfD scheme has been the most successful ever, securing almost 11 GW across a range of clean technologies, helping to boost British energy security and independence with cleaner, more affordable and diverse energy produced in the UK.
Quinbrook expects construction of Project Fortress to commence by year end. Once operational, Project Fortress is expected to be the largest single site solar PV installation in the UK. The addition of battery storage to large scale solar generation at Project Fortress is designed to provide critical flexibility to improve energy security and reliability for the UK power grid and help continue the UK’s sustainable drive to Net Zero.
A Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (“NSIP”), Project Fortress was granted development consent by BEIS in May 2020. Project Fortress is forecast to generate enough renewable power each year to meet the power needs of c. 100,000 UK homes and to help reduce carbon emissions by 164,450 tonnes in its first year of operations alone. Project Fortress includes an extensive landscape and biodiversity management plan, designed in collaboration with Natural England, Kent Wildlife Trust, RSPB, and the Environment Agency, that will add more than 3.5 km of native hedgerow screen planting across the site and seek to deliver a net gain of 65 percent in biodiversity.
Investment in Project Fortress continues the Quinbrook Founders’ 20+year history of investment in UK renewables and grid support projects. Quinlan added: “The acute power price volatility and security of energy supply concerns we have seen in the UK these past twelve months highlight how critical new capacity investment in the UK will be to deliver the energy transition without further disruption. We plan for Project Fortress to play a material part in helping to improve energy independence for the UK.”
Quinbrook Focuses on UK ‘Net Zero’ Transition
In the UK, Quinbrook is focusing on opportunities arising from the accelerating energy transition to decarbonize the country’s power system by 2035. With more than 20 GW of ageing thermal plants being retired this decade, significant long-term capital investment in new renewables supply infrastructure, battery storage, smart grid and related businesses will be needed. Quinbrook views the need for new supply and grid support infrastructure as an opportunity to deliver measurable ESG impact from asset creation and optimization which it considers fundamental to any ‘high impact’ focused investment thesis.
About Quinbrook
Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners is a specialist investment manager focused exclusively on renewables, storage and grid support infrastructure and operational asset management in the US, UK and Australia. Quinbrook is led and managed by a senior team of power industry professionals who have collectively invested c. USD 8.2 billion equity in energy infrastructure assets since the early 1990s, representing a total enterprise value of c. USD 28.7 billion or 19.5 GW of power supply capacity. Quinbrook has completed a diverse range of direct investments in both utility and distributed scale onshore wind and solar power, battery storage, reserve peaking capacity, biomass, fugitive methane recovery, hydro and flexible energy management solutions in the US, UK and Australia.
Source: quinbrook
