BayWa and Atmos cut deal on solar farm, join forces for big wind projects

German energy giant BayWa r.e. and Australian outfit Atmos Renewables have announced that they are partnering up to create a “formidable force” for wind farm development in Australia, as the nation races to wean itself from coal power by 2035.

The “strategic development partnership” was announced on Wednesday alongside the sale to Atmos of BayWa’s biggest solar asset in Australia, the 112MW (dc) Karadoc solar farm in Victoria.

Before the sale of Karadoc, which at one time was the largest solar farm in Victoria, BayWa counted a total of seven wind and solar projects across Australia, totaling 273MW.

More recently, however, the company has taken on bigger projects and shifted its focus to wind, with three projects in the development pipeline including the up to 1GW Kariboe wind project proposed for central Queensland.

Another proposed project, Bullawah near Hay in New South Wales, will also have an installed capacity of up to 1GW, as well as a battery energy storage facility. The third, proposed for Victoria’s Wimmera Plains, would be between 291MW and 416MW.

Atmos, the renewables investment arm of Igneo Infrastructure Partners, launched onto the Australian wind and solar scene in 2020, bulking up its portfolio in 2022 with a buying spree that included the assets of Elliott Green Power.

In September of 2022 Igneo won an auction to buy a 60 per cent stake in the Lal Lal wind farms in Victoria – two neighbouring, operational projects of 144MW and the 84MW.

With acquisition of Karadoc, Atmos now owns interests in 15 large-scale operating wind and solar farms across the NEM – eight of these are 100%-owned, two are majority-owned and the remainder are through minority stakes.

Atmos says the acquisition and deal with BayWa opens the door for the cashed up company to buy shares in a series of BayWa wind projects, as the two companies ramp up their dealings in Australia.

Daniel Gaefke, director of projects APAC at BayWa says the sale of Karadoc and new partnership with Atmos are testament to the German giant’s commitment to renewables development in Australia.

“Our strategic partnership with Atmos exemplifies our efforts to synergise local insight and international expertise for the betterment of Australia’s renewable energy landscape,” Gaefke says.

The partnership comes at a crucial time for Australia’s energy transition, with a worrying lull in the number of new solar and wind projects reaching financial close in the first part of 2023, and the ramping-up of a politically-backed anti-renewables campaign.