Australia’s most successful renewable and storage developer seeks buyer in biggest asset sale

Neoen, the French renewable energy and storage company that has been the most successful developer of such assets in Australia, is reportedly looking to sell nearly one third of its Australian portfolio to recycle funds for further investment.

The sale of a thirty per cent stake, reportedly mandated to the Bank of America according to the Australian Financial Review, would likely be the biggest single sale of renewable and storage assets in the country to date, surpassing the purchase of CWP by iron ore billionaire Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy.

Neoen has some of the signature renewable and storage assets in the country, including the original “Tesla Big Battery” at Hornsdale, which was also the first to introduce grid forming inverters at large scale, and what remains – for now – the biggest battery in the country, the 300 MW, 450 MWh Victoria Big Battery.

Neoen also owns a number of wind farms (Hornsdale, Bulgana, Kaban), and a big portfolio of solar farms, including Western Downs, which was briefly the country’s biggest at 400 MW, as well as the Blyth battery and Goyder South wind projects that will deliver a unique “base load” renewable contract with BHP’s Olympic Dam mine.

A potential sell down has been predicted by some analysts, such as ITK’s David Leitch, a co-host of Renew Economy’s popular Energy Insiders podcast, for the past two years.

Despite its success in Australia, and in other countries including Mexico, Finland and France, Neoen’s share price has flat-lined or even weakened for the last few years, particularly in the last 12 months – even after its strategic update that confirmed its target of 10 GW of assets in operation or under construction by 2025.

According to the AFR article, quoting investment banking sources who often use the publication to test the waters for sale proposals and price, the 30 per cent stake in Neoen Australia would be worth around $1.6 billion.

Neoen’s biggest shareholder is the French businessman and rich-lister Jacques Veyrat’s Impala SAS, which is also behind TagEnergy, a Lison-based firm run by a former head of Neoen Australia which is building what may turn out to be the country’s biggest wind farm, Golden Plains, in Victoria.

Neoen recently secured a $1.1 billion financing package, led by ANZ, for eight wind, solar and battery storage assets in Australia, including the company’s first four-hour battery, the 219 MW, 867 MWh Collie battery in Western Australia that has secured a lucrative short term contract.

Its other construction assets include the Blyth battery in South Australia, the Capital battery in the ACT – which has experienced commissioning delays for unspecified reasons – and the Western Downs battery next to the already operating Western Downs solar farm.

It is also building the first stages of the Goyder South wind farm which will be the biggest in South Australia.

In a statement last week, ANZ’s global head of Project and Export Finance, Aaron Ross described the transaction as one of the largest renewable-energy financings in Australia.

Comment is being sought from Neoen.