Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has acquired the GBP 240 million, 350 MW solar photovoltaic project, the Mallard Pass in England. This is the global investment manager’s second nationally significant infrastructure project (NSIP) after the Cleve Hill Solar project that is expected to see completion this Autumn.
Mallard Pass project factsheet
Location: Rutland-Lincolnshire border in East Midlands, England
Project manager: Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners
Affiliate contractors: Private Energy Partners
Estimated cost: GBP 240 million
Start of construction: 2026
Start of operations: 2028
Estimated energy production: Over 14 million MWh
Estimated local social-economic contribution: Upwards of GBP 124 million
Acclaimed status: UK’s second Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP)
Why the Mallard Pass solar PV project
With construction set to start next year the Mallard Pass project will produce over 14 million Mwh of renewable energy. This number will offset a ton of other non-green ones. The project will reduce carbon emissions by an estimate 665,000 tonnes – a number conferred equivalent to the burning of about 730 million pound of coal.
This does not go understated as the nationally significant infrastructure project has been hailed “important” in the decarbonzation of UK’s energy grid.
“Solar projects of this scale play an important role in the decarbonisation of the UK grid and our country’s energy security […]. The investment in Mallard Pass is another excellent example of Quinbrook’s focus on holistic and impactful investment in the infrastructure needed to advance the energy transition.” Director of Quinbrook, Rosalind Smith-Maxwell also added.
Quinbrook and its affiliate will now dive into the design, procurement, and construction planning stages of the project.
Quinbrook’s Cleve Hill Solar project
Quinbrook is also overseeing the development of the 373MW Cleve Hill Solar project that is to start operations in this quarter. The project came to light in 2022, broke ground in early 2023, and has so far seen tremendous progress.
Another marked event was the PPA agreement with Tesco for the project. Cleve Hill will serve as the blueprint, or in some sense the benchmark, to UK’s second NSIP. This is the 350MW Mallard Pass project capped at GBP 240 million.
The project is expected to create around 2,000 construction and operation jobs. This is both directly and indirectly. It will also pump more than GBP 124 million to the local communities in economic opportunities.
At the national level, Mallard Pass project is expected to push UK’s decarbonization agenda and cement a resilient energy grid in the country. The second ”value-add investment” by Quinbrook in the UK joins the now fast-growing list of “green energy investments” around the world.
