Australian fund managers snap up 49 pct stake in Australia’s biggest wind farm

Asset manager Palisade Investment Partners and Aware Super say they will acquire a 49 per cent stake in  Australia’s largest operating wind farm, Stockyard Hill, from turbine giant Goldwind.

Stockyard Hill, near Ballarat in Victoria, has a total capacity of 528MW and after lengthy connection delays finally reached “practical completion” in September this year and will produce enough renewable energy to power around 425,000 homes.

The project first came into prominence six years ago when Origin agreed to sell the project to wind turbine giant Goldwind for $110 million and signed a long term contract for its output for what then represented a record low price in the Australian market for wind energy.

Goldwind, which ultimately installed 149 of its turbines at the project, will continue to provide operations and maintenance services to the farm, and will retain a 51 per cent stake.

For Palisade, the acquisition represents a continuation of a strategy of investing in a variety of renewable energy assets, including high quality greenfield and brownfield projects.

“Stockyard Hill provides our investors with exposure to long-term contracted cashflows and represents further diversification across our growing portfolio of renewable energy investments,” Palisade executive director James Hann said in a statement.

Mark Hector, Aware’s super senior portfolio manager for infrastructure and real assets, said Stockyard Hill will provide a valuable source of strong risk-adjusted returns for its members’ $1 billion renewable energy portfolio.

“It also reaffirms our investment strategy to actively pursue those assets we believe will benefit from the transition to a lower carbon future,” he said in a statement.

Stockyard Hill will likely remain Australia’s biggest wind project until the completion of the 1GW MacIntyre wind precinct in Queensland, and will also be trumped by the first 756MW stage of the Golden Plains wind project in Victoria.

The transaction is expected to reach financial close in January 2023, according to Palisade. Palisade and Aware were advised on the transaction by Macquarie Capital, King & Wood Mallesons and Clayton Utz. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.