Italian oil giant ENI buys two more solar farms in Australia

Italian oil and gas giant ENI says it has completed the purchase of another two solar farms in Australia, part of a plan to build a global renewables portfolio of 1.6GW by 2022.

ENI has bought – from Australian-based renewable energy developer Tetris Energy – the two relatively small Batchelor and Manton Dam solar farms near Darwin in the Northern Territory, which are both sized around 12.5MW.

This purcahse adds to the 37MW Katherine solar farm ENI bought last year, which will also have battery storage and be the largest in the territory, – although it will be dwarfed if plans for a 10GW solar farm based around Tennant Creek go ahead.

ENI has been operating in Australia since 2000, mainly in two big gas projects, but sees the investment in renewable energy projects – it has made several similarly small solar investments in north Africa and Asia – as part of its pledge for “energy transition towards a low carbon-emissions scenario” and “preserving the planet and promoting an efficient and sustainable access to energy for all.”

The Manton Dam and Batchelor solar farms were developed by Tetris Energy, which locked in a power purchase agreement with state owned utilityJacana Energy earlier this year. The solar farms will be completed next year.

Tetris has also built the 5MW Mannum 1 solar farm in South Australia and is now developing the 25MW stage 2 at Mannum. It says it has a number of smaller solar farms in SA and another larger one in NSW.