Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has announced the end of debt financing for the Cleve Hill Solar and Battery Storage project.
Classified as a National Important Infrastructure Project (NSIP) because of the scale of the Zonnefabriek, Cleve Hill consists of 373 MW Zonne -Zon + 150 MW Battery Energy Storage System (Bess). Based in Kent, the power plant is expected to start this year.
Quinbrook says that the project financing is the largest ever closed for a storage development of Solar + in the UK. Financing was arranged in two tranches, with term loans for the solar PV completed in August 2024 and for the Bess facility in March of this year.
The finances, a term loan of £ 218.5 million and a VAT facility of £ 20 million, is provided by Lloyds and Natwest.
Additional income contracts for the development are a 15-year contract for difference (CFD), the largest awarded to a British solar project in the fourth round of the government regulation, and a historical purchase agreement with Tesco PLC.
The 15-year-old Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Tesco will cover 65% of the expected solar generation and a 10-year route to the market agreement with Oil and Gas Company Shell, will manage the remaining 35% of the solar generation of development.
Cleve Hill will also benefit from a 15-year capacity market agreement for the 150 MW Bess on the spot, thereby producing the total contracted and index-linked income for the project more than £ 480 million.
This success follows a failed attempt by the local planning committee for Swale Borough Council to refuse permission for the addition of the battery storage element of the development.
Keith Winins, director and British regional leader for Quinbrook, called Cleve Hill a “model for the development and financing of future large -scale projects” in the UK.
The milestone project received development allocation in 2020 and was the first of its kind that was approved as NSIP.
Lyudmil Banev, director of project financing at Natwest, added that the project is a “cornerstone transaction” for the British market and that the Retailbankgroep Co location regards “a very strategic sector”.
Natwest has also arranged financing for various large-scale independent curriculum projects, by developers, including Zenobē Energy, Envision and Statera.
Worldwide law firm Norton Rose Fulbright advised Quinbrook as a sponsor and borrower for debt financing for the Solar Power Station Cleve Hill station.
Quinbrook builds Solar NSIP -Portfolio
In February, Quinbrook announced that it had taken over the 350 MW Mallard Pass Solar PV project, which was agreed in 2024. It must be connected with the grid via the existing Ryhall.
No financial details about the acquisition have been published, but the development is appreciated at £ 240 million.
Quinbrook says it will use its experience from the Cleve Hill project in the supervision of the construction of Mallard Pass, which will start in 2026. The activities at Mallard Pass are expected to start in 2028.
