The Investor of the Year award in APAC was awarded to Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, with judges marvelling at Quinbrook’s success at bringing a BESS to the Australia market.  

One judge said: “The investor demonstrated clear success in energy storage sector, which is likely to be at forefront on the energy transition trend, and measurable ESG impact. 

One judge said: “Bringing successful BESS at scale to the Australian market in line with policy changes has the potential to bring about real progress in the energy transition in that region.”  

Quinbrook is a specialist investment manager focused exclusively on the infrastructure needed to drive the energy transition in the UK, US and Australia. The management team has collectively invested $5.6 billion of equity capital in 43.3GW of energy infrastructure assets since the early 1990s, representing a total transaction value of $48.3 billion.    

According to the submission: “Quinbrook has adopted a ‘top-down’ approach to deal sourcing, in which the team conducts systematic reviews of each technology, analyses the power and energy market fundamentals and the key players in each segment. 
Quinbrook’s team are experienced at originating deals on a bilateral and negotiated basis; the team members have been able to structure well-aligned arrangements with project developers and this is reflective of their deep industry expertise.” 

Quinbrook, in Brendale, Queensland, is developing the Supernode Project – a co-located 750MW BESS.  

The submission said: “The project is expected to host one of the largest battery storage installations in the Australian National Electricity Market, up to 750 MW, staged in 250 MW / 2- to 4- hour MWh tranches. Market trends such as rising energy prices and volatility, and changes in government policy that occurred throughout 2022 and 2023 have increased the attractiveness of the BESS elements of the Supernode Project compared to the market conditions at the time of initial investment. The current market demand for quality BESS projects in Queensland accelerated the Supernode BESS development. 

 
“On April 11th, 2024, Quinbrook announced the financial close and the start of construction for the first stage of the ‘Supernode’ project. Supernode executed an offtake agreement for Stage 1 of the project with Origin Energy for a 12-year, 250 MW 2-hour tolling arrangement, marking a significant milestone for the project as it secured a revenue source with attractive financial returns from Australia’s largest energy retailer. On July 11th, 2024, Quinbrook announced an expansion of its partnership with Origin Energy with contracts signed for Stage 2 of the ‘Supernode’ project.” 

According to IJInvestor data Quinbrook has reached final close on 5 funds:  

• Quinbrook Net Zero Power Fund 
• Quinbrook Renewables Impact Fund I 
• Quinbrook Low Carbon Power Fund 
• Quinbrook Valley of Fire Fund  
• Cape Byron Infrastructure Fund  

The fund manager is also raising funds for Quinbrook Renewables Impact Fund II.