Torrens Island big battery render.
AGL has announced plans to create a new investment vehicle to support the financing for up to 2.7 gigawatts of new wind, solar and storage assets it has planned for the country’s main grid.
The new fund – dubbed the Energy Transition Investment Partnership – will support plans for the demerger unit Accel to transition its business away from a reliance on coal and gas, create new “energy hubs” and invest in new “low carbon” developments.
“The pipeline (is) already up to 2.7 gigawatts across Australia,” said chief operating officer Markus Brokhof. “All projects are already at different stages of development and at approval stages.”
Brokhof said the proposed portfolio comprised wind, pumped hydro and battery projects across New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. Some of the projects, including two big wind farms, were not identified.
“Developing this pipeline will support Accel in maintaining its position as one of the largest wind operators in Australia and grow the low-carbon firming to support renewables being integrated into the grid,” he said in the company’s results presentation, where AGL also announced a quickening of its planned coal closures.
The list of projects includes proposed big batteries at Loy Yang, Liddell and Broken Hill (not on the map), and the Bells Mt pumped hydro project in NSW. The Torrens big battery has already been approved and is under construction.
Most of these batteries are located at the site of legacy thermal generators, and will become the centre of new “energy hubs” that AGL hopes will grow to include other industries, become sites for data centres, and other industries seeking low or zero carbon energy supplies.
The proposed portfolio also includes Bowman Creek wind farm in NSW and the Barn Hill wind farm in South Australia, and two unidentified wind projects in Victoria and NSW that together could total 1.3GW. Most of these investment decisions will take place in 2022 or 2023.
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