Why these Aussies are building solar where the sun don’t shine

afr.com:

Faversham, England | The world is full of sun-blessed places. And then there’s England, with a world-class reputation for being anything but.

So you’d think that Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, the Australian-led group that recently became a co-owner of Northern Territory renewables mega-project Sun Cable, might blink before punting on solar energy in the cloudy climes of southern England.

A mock-up of the Cleve Hill solar farm once complete. 

Quite the opposite, however: Quinbrook is the investor behind Britain’s biggest such punt. It’s a 356-hectare solar farm that will put 670,000 panels on low-yield agricultural land in Kent, in the marshes near the mouth of the Thames.

The Cleve Hill solar farm and battery storage development, codenamed Project Fortress, will produce more than 350 megawatts a year, feeding enough energy into the grid to power 100,000 homes, and cutting carbon emissions by almost 165,000 tonnes a year.

“It has never been done anywhere near this scale in the UK,” says David Scaysbrook, Quinbrook’s co-founder and managing partner.

But still, this is England. In Kent’s best month, there are 257 hours of sunshine. Compare that with Sun Cable’s host geography: Alice Springs’ sunniest month boasts 313 hours. At the other end, the Alice’s least sunny month has 258 hours, against just 50 hours in wintry Kent. Is this really going to work?

“If you told me 10 years ago we’d be building the biggest solar project in the UK, and one of the biggest in the world, in Kent? I would have laughed you out the door,” Scaysbrook admits.

He says this reflects how much more competitive solar energy has become on cost and price – particularly when compared with the locally available alternatives.

“If you look at the