AGL inks another renewable off take deal for Macarthur wind farm

AGL Energy continues a busy week in renewable energy offtake agreements with a seven-year deal with biotech giant CSL to supply enough green electricity to cover all of the energy needs of that company’s Victorian operations.

Following the announcement of a six-year deal with NBN Co just yesterday, AGL says the PPA with CSL will see the gentailer supply around 114GWh a year of renewables to CSL, which has two large-scale advanced manufacturing facilities located in Victoria.

CSL will, in return, buy large-scale renewable energy certificates (LGCs) from AGL to match the electricity supplied, with most of the certificates initially coming via the Macarthur Wind Farm – the same Victorian project named in the NBN Co deal.

CSL said in a statement that the deal will “significantly advance” the company’s Scope 1 and 2 emissions reductions with all electricity used by the manufacturing sites matched by renewable electricity certificates.

“The PPA includes a provision that gives preference to generators located in Victoria to drive investment in local renewable electricity generation in CSL’s home state,” the company said on Thursday.

“Our European manufacturing sites have been using 100 per cent renewable purchased electricity since January 2023,” said CSL chief sustainability officer, Jeffrey Ball, in a statement.

“Together with this agreement, these are important milestones that signal CSL’s commitment and action to improve its environmental profile, and we will continue to explore similar opportunities throughout our global footprint.

“Every organisation’s sustainability journey has big and small steps,” Ball adds. “This PPA is a big step for CSL
in implementing one of our key strategic levers, renewable electricity, to help drive … emission reductions.”

The Macarthur Wind Farm, once the largest in Victoria, is now operated by AGL from its site between Hamilton and Warrnambool in the state’s south west. It has 140 turbines and a capacity of 420MW.