Quinbrook acquires 84 MW gas-fired power project portfolio in England, Wales

LONDON — Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a global investment manager specializing in lower carbon and renewable energy infrastructure, has acquired an 84 Megawatt (MW) gas-fired power project portfolio located across four sites in England and Wales.

Quinbrook plans to invest more than $60 MM to acquire and construct the projects, which will become revenue-generating over the next 12 mos. This latest investment marks the founder's return to the United Kingdom's clean energy infrastructure market and is the maiden investment in Quinbrook's UK low carbon power platform.

Quinbrook acquired 100% of the fully permitted and construction-ready 84 MW Eider Reserve Power portfolio for £4.6 MM and plans to invest a further £40 MM ($53 MM) in cash to construct and install the four projects, which are ideally located in close proximity to both gas and power grid connections. Three of the projects have secured 15-yr fixed price, inflation escalated capacity contracts. This latest acquisition grows Quinbrook's investment portfolio to more than $3 B of committed and planned projects, diversified across onshore wind, distributed gas, utility scale solar and flexible peak power generation in the US, UK and Australia.

According to Energy UK, the trade association for the nation's energy industry, renewables already produce more than 20% of the UK's electricity. That figure is expected to increase to 30% by 2020 and will continue to be dominated by intermittent renewable sources such as wind and solar PV.

The key services that can be provided by the Eider gas engines include fast reserve generation—the ability to generate power within two minutes—and short term operating reserve (STOR), which can produce standby or emergency power when required. Demand for STOR generation capacity alone is expected to grow by 59% by 2030 and increase at least 3% per year for the next two decades.

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