Australian renewables retailer and consumer energy pioneer hits the auction block

One of Australia’s landmark renewable energy “gen-tailers,” Flow Power, is reportedly up for sale, with its major shareholder alongside its founder said to be shopping around for buyers. 

The Australian Financial Review reports that Canadian pension fund OPTrust has asked Lazard Australia to sell off its majority stake in Flow Power, which it bought eight years ago.

The AFR cites a marketing flyer that says both OPTrust and founder Matthew van Linden want to sell the company, and its $20 million profit before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for the year to June 30, by Christmas. 

Melbourne-based Flow Power has been a pioneer, in Australia, of coordinating cheap renewable power supply deals – initially for business and industry, but more recently for households, too – starting back in 2017 with a “first-of-its-kind” PPA with Ararat wind farm in Victoria.

In 2021, Flow graduated from a business model based on power purchase agreements (PPAs) to developing some of its own projects, starting with a couple of sub-5 megawatt (MW) solar projects in South Australia.

In 2023, Flow switched on its first DC-coupled solar and battery hybrid, the 5.8 MW / 6.7 megawatt-hour (MWh) Berri Energy Project features northeast of Adelaide.

And in December of last year, Flow reached financial close on its first “battery only” project – and its largest project of any sort, to date – the 100 MW/223 MWh Bennett’s Creek Battery in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley.

In March this year, Flow Power added a 50 MW solar and 60 MW battery hybrid to its portfolio of assets, with the purchase of the shovel-ready Dunedoo Energy Project in regional NSW, complete with state development approvals and State Significant Development (SSD) status.

On the retail side, Flow Home was launched in 2024 – a retail offering described as Australia’s first “technology integrated” electricity plan, combining a net 100% renewable power supply at a fixed cost with the potential to earn bill discounts by matching home solar consumption, storage and export with the needs of the wholesale market.

To add to this, Flow last year bought up leading solar and battery comparison service, Solar Choice, to give its retail electricity customers easy access to Solar Choice’s bank of knowledge on consumer energy resources, and allow them to compare quotes from a list of “trusted installers.”

According to the AFR, the “auction” process kicks off on Monday and non-binding indicative bids are due in four weeks. The paper says Flow is hoping to have a deal signed by Christmas, and OPtrust and van der Linden are looking to sell the business in its entirety.

Renew Economy is seeking comment from Flow Power.

If you would like to join more than 29,000 others and get the latest clean energy news delivered straight to your inbox, for free, please click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter.