UK’s Largest Solar Park Enters Commercial Operation

A global energy infrastructure management group said one of its solar-plus-storage projects in the UK is now online. Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners on July 1 said the 373-MW Cleve Hill Solar Park has started commercial operation, and represents the largest solar power and energy storage installation built to date in the UK.

Quinbrook on Tuesday said Cleve Hill, which will include a 150-MW co-located battery energy storage system, has more than four times as much generation capacity as the next largest operating solar project in the UK. Cleve Hill’s during its commissioning phase peaked at a level equivalent to 0.7% of the UK’s national power demand, according to Quinbrook.

Cleve Hill was the first solar and battery storage project to be consented under the UK’s NSIP program (Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project). Quinbrook said the project is supported by the largest solar-plus-battery storage project financing ever undertaken in the UK. Quinbrook previously has said it closed a $218.5-million-pound ($300 million) term loan for the solar park, along with a $20-million-pound ($27.5 million) VAT facility with Lloyds and NatWest for the installation.

“Cleve Hill sets a new benchmark for large-scale solar projects to help decarbonize the UK power system and demonstrates how investing in the infrastructure needed to transition the UK to clean energy can support local communities and create new jobs,” said Keith Gains, managing director and UK regional leader for Quinbrook. “Reaching commercial operations is a major technical, construction and financial achievement for our teams, our partners and our investors. Cleve Hill was not an easy project to build and we overcame many challenges along the way.”

Gains added, “The UK’s ongoing commitment to progress its energy transition and decarbonize the economy represents a strong conviction as a nation to a renewable energy future, one that is underpinned by a huge pipeline of large-scale infrastructure projects that will support growth, jobs and cheaper power for UK households.”

Cleve Hill was the UK’s first solar NSIP to be awarded a Contract for Difference, or CfD, by the UK’s government-backed Low Carbon Contracts Company. It also secured the largest award for a UK solar project in Round 4 of the CfD auction scheme. Quinbrook has secured a long-term offtake agreement with Tesco PLC, the largest solar corporate PPA executed in the UK to date.

“Quinbrook is proud to further enhance our track record of successfully delivering milestone infrastructure projects that create such a meaningful and positive impact for the UK’s energy transition. Projects like Cleve Hill set new scale benchmarks that should increase confidence that the UK’s renewables targets can be achieved,” said Rory Quinlan, Quinbrook’s co-founder and managing partner.

Cleve Hill was granted development consent in May 2020; construction of the project began in early 2023. Quinbrook partnered with Private Energy Partners, its development affiliate, for construction and commissioning of the project.

—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.