Rest seeks higher exposure to solar, storage with bet on Quinbrook

Australian superannuation fund Rest has committed to investing AUD 1 billion (USD 658m/EUR 600m) along with renewable and clean energy infrastructure manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners in a push to bolster energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact of data centres.

The bet is aimed at securing exposure to a range of assets, such as solar and battery storage projects and green data storage centres, including Quinbrook’s Supernode green data campus in Brisbane, Rest noted in a statement released today.

“The investment in Quinbrook aims to provide strong long-term financial returns through greater exposure to next-generation infrastructure in Australia and beyond,” said Rest’s chief investment officer Andrew Lill.

Quinbrook invests in solar-plus-storage projects, green data centres, distributed energy solutions and industrial decarbonisation among other targets. Its leadership team has collectively invested more than USD 8.2 billion in energy infrastructure assets since the early 1990s, representing more than 19.5 GW of power supply capacity.

Earlier this month, the company signed a global framework agreement securing over 10 GWh of energy storage solutions to be used for its own infrastructure projects. In late October, it unveiled plans for a multi-billion-dollar polysilicon factory in Queensland to make wafers for use in solar panels and batteries.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.658/EUR 0.600)

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