Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has announced the completion and full commissioning of the Cleve Hill Solar Park in Kent, now the UK’s largest operational solar asset.
The project is exporting at its full 373 MWdc capacity – more than four times the size of the next largest solar project in the country.
Cleve Hill marks a number of firsts. It was the UK’s first solar and battery storage project approved as a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) and secured the largest solar and battery financing deal in the country, with a £218.5m term loan and £20m VAT facility from Lloyds and NatWest.
Construction is ongoing for a 150 MW co-located battery energy storage system, which will make Cleve Hill the UK’s largest combined solar and storage project once complete.
Keith Gains, Managing Director and UK Regional Leader for Quinbrook, said: “Cleve Hill sets a new benchmark for large-scale solar projects to help decarbonise 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.”
The project, which began construction in early 2023 after development consent was granted in 2020, is expected to reduce carbon emissions by over 142,000 tonnes in its first year and generate over £114m in local benefits.
It was also the first solar NSIP to secure a Contract for Difference (CfD) from the UK Government-backed Low Carbon Contracts Company and includes a long-term power purchase agreement with Tesco – the UK’s largest corporate solar PPA to date.
“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 Co-Founder and Managing Partner.
[Image credit: Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners. Image caption: The 373MW solar project is now the largest operating in the UK]
