EnergyAustralia signs PPA for 113MW wind farm in NSW

Infigen Energy’s proposed 113MW Bodangora wind farm in New South Wales has become the latest large-scale renewable energy project to secure a power purchase agreement, this time with EnergyAustralia, marking the major retailer’s fourth PPA in just three months.

Infigen said on Tuesday that it, and the project’s development partner, had signed a PPA with EnergyAustralia for 60 per cent of the output (electricity and LGCs) from the proposed wind farm that is being developed near Wellington.

The deal, which is conditional to the project achieving financial close within an agreed timeframe, commits EnergyAuystralia to buy just over half of the wind farm’s output from the time it is switched on, to December 31, 2030.

The balance (40%) of Bodangora’s output will be actively managed within Infigen’s energy markets risk framework, Infigen said.

With the PPA signed, Infigen is moving to wind up development tasks for the Bodangora project, which includes closing an in-principle agreement for Infigen to acquire its development partner’s 50 per cent equity interest in Bodangora for an agreed amount, prior to financial close.

This will leave Infigen as 100 per cent owner of the Bodangora project, responsible for the equity component of construction funding, which can be funded from existing cash reserves.

“We are pleased to be able to announce this important step towards our goal of proceeding to construction of a new wind farm,” said Infigen managing director Ross Rolfe.

“We are working diligently towards finalising other elements of the project in order to reach a final investment decision and financial close.”

EnergyAustralia, meanwhile, has now secured PPAs for a total of 285MW of renewable energy, putting it well on the way to achieving its goal of 500MW.

Earlier this month, the gentailer – which also owns two of Australia’s largest coal-fired power plants – signed a PPA for all the electricity generated by what will be Victoria’s first large-scale solar project, the Gannawarra Solar Farm.

And last December, EnergyAustralia signed a PPA for the output of the 48.5 MW solar farm at Manildra in regional New South Wales until 2030.

“We’re really please to add a quality project like Bodangora to our power purchase portfolio,” said EnergyAustralia managing director Catherine Tanna in a statement on Tuesday.

“The reality is these are the projects that will underpin Australia’s future energy mix and it’s up to us to provide the support they need to get built,” she said.