Quinbrook secures National Grid contracts for synchronous condenser projects

Investment manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners LLC secured contracts for four new synchronous condenser projects under phase two of National Grid PLC's Pathfinder program to help ensure grid stability in Scotland.

Quinbrook had completed its first synchronous condenser project at Rassau in Wales under the first phase of the Pathfinder program.

In Pathfinder phase two, National Grid awarded 10 new contracts worth £323 million, and Quinbrook said in an April 19 news release that it expects to take total investment of over £220 million in building the four projects in the next two years.

Statkraft AS and Zenobe Energy Ltd. received a total of five contracts for grid forming battery storage, and TINZ Programme 1 ProjectCo 3 Ltd. received a contract for a synchronous condenser, National Grid said in its April 6 announcement. The contracts start in April 2024 and will run for 10 years.

Quinbrook and Welsh Power have been developing the condenser projects, known as the Scottish Portfolio, near the towns of Gretna, Neilston, Rothienorman and Thurso since 2020. Quinbrook aims to start project construction this year, with scheduled commercial operations in 2024.

Once operational, the four projects are expected to collectively provide 3,500 megavolt amps of short circuit level — amount of current that flows on the system during a fault — and 1,850 megavolt amps of inertia, meeting over half of National Grid's short circuit level requirement.

With the pending closure of nuclear plants in Scotland and northern England and the increasing amount of intermittent wind resources on the grid, stability is diminishing, National Grid said. The projects selected through Pathfinder are providing stability, though with net-zero emission resources.

"We believe this is the first time in the world where grid forming inverters have been used in multiple locations across a region to provide a system-wide solution to short circuit levels and inertia," Julian Leslie, head of networks at National Grid ESO, said in a news release. "These zero-carbon stability-improving devices will enable more green electricity to run, are cheaper for consumers, and will allow the market to deliver as much wind generation as possible."

Phase three of the Pathfinder project, focusing on grid stability in England and Wales, is underway with tender submissions due June 6.

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