Italian and Japanese energy giants rebrand Australia JV and aim for 7 GW of renewables

Italian energy giant giant Enel Green Power and its Japanese partner Inpex have rebranded their Australian renewable energy joint-venture and announced plans to build more than 7 gigawatts (GW) of projects.

The new name Potentia Energy will apply only to the Australian operations and will be formally unveiled at an event at the Sydney Opera House on Monday night.

The joint-venture between the two companies was first announced in July last year when Inpex – Japan’s largest oil and gas exploration and production company – bought a 50 per cent state in the Australian operations of Enel Green Power, the renewable subsidiary of Italian energy giant Enel.

These assets include the 220 MW Bungala solar farms, the 27 MW Cohuna solar farm in Victoria and the 76 MW Flat Rock wind farm in W.A, and several projects in commissioning or under construction, including the 93 MW Gilgarre solar project in Victoria and the Quorn Park solar and battery project in NSW.

Potentia Energy CEO Werther Esposito, said the rebranded company is targeting an ambitious investment pipeline across wind, solar, storage and hybrid projects.

“We’re excited to launch the new brand, Potentia Energy,” Esposito said in a statement. ‘It’s a name that embodies the spirit of this dynamic jointly owned company.

It speaks to the unlimited potential of Australia’s natural resources, the vast potential of our people and the incredible potential of the communities in which we operate.”

Esposito says the Potentia Energy has an ambitious pipeline of more than 7 GW of projects, including many which are “ready to build.”

He told Renew Economy that the company has lodged projects in both the first and the newly opened second rounds of the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme. Results of the first 6 GW tender are expected to be announced in the next two weeks.

Some of Potentia’s key projects involve battery storage, including the 20 MW, 40 MWh Quorn Park battery (next to a 98 MW solar farm) which is under construction, and has also bought the Tallawang Hybrid Renewable Energy project in the central west of NSW that could combine 500MW of solar with a 500MW/1000MWh battery.

“The incentives are going in the right direction,” Esposito said. “battery storage is becoming cheaper and cheaper and will become the key technology for the energy transition, whether standalone or in a hybrid system.”

Esposito says the Potentia Energy pipeline is evenly distributed across wind, solar and battery storage, which is a change from just a few years ago when the Enel Green Power portfolio in Australia was almost entirely focused on solar more.