Critical Storage Infrastructure to Support the UK Power System
Uskmouth will be one of the largest storage projects in the UK and will directly support the UK’s energy transition.
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners ("Quinbrook"), a specialist investment manager focused on renewables, storage and grid support infrastructure has acquired the exclusive development rights for one of the UK’s largest battery storage projects to date.
The planned 230MW / 460MWh Battery Energy Storage System (“BESS”), will be located at the site of the former Uskmouth coal fired power station in south Wales (“Project Uskmouth”) and will seek to utilise existing power transmission infrastructure and provide a new lease of life to the area. Uskmouth was acquired from Simec Atlantis Energy Limited (“SAE”). Quinbrook has partnered with Energy Optimisation Solutions Limited (“EOS”) in the origination and development of Project Uskmouth, which represents a major anchoring project in the planned re-development and regeneration of the Uskmouth site into a Sustainable Energy Park that will support innovative future industry. Quinbrook considers these types of regeneration projects as key to making meaningful contributions to delivery of the Government’s Levelling Up ambitions.
Quinbrook affiliate Private Energy Partners Limited (“PEP”) and EOS are jointly undertaking the design and development phases of Project Uskmouth with PEP leading equipment procurement, construction and operational management. Habitat Energy, one of the major battery storage optimisers in the UK market owned by Quinbrook, will be engaged to optimise the Uskmouth assets when completed and operational. The development includes a modification of the existing grid connection agreement and a planning application, the latter to be determined by Newport City Council. Construction is envisaged to take up to 18 months, with the project expected to become operational towards the end of 2024. Quinbrook’s policy is to prioritise the use of local contractors and specialists during construction works and where possible, the project will utilise the existing railway access for logistics requirements in order to minimise local impacts from construction activities.
Rory Quinlan, co-founder and Managing Partner of Quinbrook commented, “The UK’s ‘Net Zero’ transformation is an unprecedented investment opportunity for Quinbrook with a diverse array of attractive thematics. Our ‘whole of system’ investment philosophy puts the emphasis on addressing critical infrastructure needs and enablers for a stable transition to a decarbonised power system. If the UK power system is to meet its 2030 renewables targets (of 95% decarbonised power generation), battery storage will need to increase significantly to address urgent stability and flexibility requirements. Almost 10% of UK grid capacity is expected to be provided by battery storage by 2030, representing an estimated GBP 20 billion1 of new capital investment. Project Uskmouth is a timely example of how specialist energy infrastructure investors like Quinbrook can identify new opportunities of substantial scale and positive impact arising from the energy transition.”
Keith Gains, Senior Director of Quinbrook added, “Our ability to identify and build durable relationships with project development partners such as EOS, help us continue to execute innovative strategies within the UK’s energy transition landscape. Investments in projects such as Uskmouth, supported by industry innovators like Habitat Energy, reinforce Quinbrook’s strategic moves into the supply of critical flexible capacity, storage and grid support infrastructure that enables more variable and weather-dependent renewables to be safely accommodated on the UK power grid.”
About Quinbrook
Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners (http://www.quinbrook.com) 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.
About Energy Optimisation Solutions Limited
EOS is a leading developer and operator of renewable projects in the UK. EOS develops projects across all renewable asset classes and has a development pipeline of c.1 GW.
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