Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners is to build a large solar and battery storage plant in the UK.
A source told IPE Real Assets that the development cost of Project Fortress in Kent would be $370m (€317m).
Global investment manager Quinbrook said it has acquired a “consented 350MW solar and battery storage project” and expects to commence construction of the project in the first half of next year.
Once operational, Fortress is expected to be the largest single-site solar photovoltaic (PV) installation in the UK – more than three times the size of the UK’s next- largest consented solar PV project, according to the company.
Rory Quinlan, co-founder and managing partner of Quinbrook, said: “We believe Project Fortress is a landmark transaction on many fronts, and that it represents a new frontier in UK solar teamed with large-scale battery storage.”
Designated as Nationally Significant Infrastructure, Project Fortress was granted development consent in May 2020.
“Fortress is an example of the scale of the new renewables impact the UK needs to build, not just to rapidly decarbonise the UK power sector but to meet the anticipated 13% increase in electricity demand by 2030,” Quinlan said
Currently, Quinbrook is developing two projects, including a $1.1bn Gemini Solar + Battery Storage Project, both in Nevada, US. It said Gemini would be the “largest co-located solar PV and battery storage project in US history”.
The Kent and Nevada projects bring the company’s current solar and battery storage portfolio to well over 1.6 GW of solar PV and 1GW of battery storage capacity, representing more than $2.5bn of project capital investment for the US and UK renewables markets.
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