Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners (Quinbrook) sold a 49% equity stake in its $1.2bn Gemini solar plus storage project in Nevada, US to Dutch pension asset manager APG.
APG purchased the stake in the Gemini project on behalf of its pension fund client ABP.
Gemini is a 690MWac solar, plus 1,416MWh battery energy storage facility, being developed by Quinbrook’s portfolio company Primergy Solar.
Primergy Solar is developing the project on a 7,100-acre site in the Mojave Desert, 25 miles (40km) from Las Vegas. The project is expected to be completed and operational in 2023.
Once operational, Gemini will generate adequate clean energy to power more than 400,000 homes during peak periods and displace 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually.
The project is backed by a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Berkshire Hathaway’s public utility company NV Energy for offtake.
Quinbrook co-founder and managing partner David Scaysbrook said: “We are very excited to welcome APG as a partner to Quinbrook and Primergy as we advance construction of such a milestone project for US clean energy.
“Given the scale and impact of Gemini, we felt APG was an exemplary partner for us that is differentiated by its sophisticated approach to the Gemini project and to the US renewables market more generally.
“Our Primergy team will continue to manage the construction and operational phases of Gemini with some exciting milestones coming up as the mammoth Gemini Project takes shape.”
Quinbrook and Primergy selected APG after receiving multiple offers from various investors ranging across the industrial and financial investor landscape.
APG has experience investing in the US renewables space and has several direct investments in utility-scale solar and storage assets in the US, said Quinbrook.
Gemini is currently the largest solar plus storage project under construction in the US and forms the APG’s largest investment in any single solar plus storage project ever.
APG Americas real assets managing director Steven Hason said: “As a responsible investor, we are always looking for infrastructure investments that bring long-term financial returns for our pension clients and that have positive environmental and social impacts.
“This transaction represents an ideal opportunity to invest in a state-of-the-art energy project that will provide clean, renewable electricity for Nevada.
“We look forward to working with our partners who share our long-term investment goals with regard to this critical infrastructure asset.”
