Origin sells 30MW NSW wind farm for $72m

Origin Energy has announced the sale of its 30MW Cullerin Range Wind Farm in New South Wales, nine months after the utility flagged plans to sell off a range of non-core assets in a bid to rein in debt and shift its renewables focus to solar.

Origin said in an ASX media release on Friday that it had entered into a Share Sale Agreement with Energy Developments – a wholly owned subsidiary of ASX-listed DUET Group, which also owns United Energy – for the sale of the wind farm for a cash consideration of $72 million.

Under the terms of the transaction, Origin has entered into a long-term off-take agreement with Cullerin, which just last month was ranked third in the the top 12 wind farms in Australia, by capacity factor.

Indeed, Cullerin and the state’s six other large-scale wind farms delivered a record output in May, with a combined “capacity factor” of 56 per cent, more than two of the biggest coal generators in the state (see table below).

As noted above, Origin’s sale of the wind farm forms part of its $800 million asset divestment program, announced in September 2015. At the time, Origin said it would exit all its international geothermal assets, and sell some operating wind farms in Australia, as part of a significant restructure headlined by a massive $2.5 billion fund raising.

Once the sale is complete, Origin says it will bring the program’s cumulative proceeds to a total of $468 million.