Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners’ 373 MW Cleve Hill solar park in Kent (United Kingdom) has officially entered commercial operation. From now on, the site will export 100% of its 373 MWdc capacity to the grid. Cleve Hill is the first solar Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP) in the UK to be awarded a CfD by the government-backed Low Carbon Contracts Company. It also secured the largest CfD allocation for a solar project in the UK during Round 4 of the auction scheme.
Quinbrook further strengthened the project’s commercial framework by signing a long-term PPA with Tesco. In parallel, construction is underway on a 150 MW BESS co-located at the site. Once completed, this will make Cleve Hill the largest co-located solar-plus-storage project ever built in the UK energy market. The solar farm received development consent in May 2020 and began construction in early 2023. Quinbrook partnered with its development affiliate, Private Energy Partners, to deliver the project through construction and commissioning.
In 2023, the UK government committed to fully decarbonise the power system by 2035. As of end-2024, the UK had an installed solar capacity of 17.5 GW. As of June 2025, an additional 1.6 GW is under construction, with 17 GW more under development