Second stage of Australia’s biggest wind farm reportedly sold for $2 billion

UK-based renewable energy and storage company Octopus Investments has reportedly agreed to buy the second stage of Australia’s biggest wind project in a deal worth more than $2 billion.

According to the AFR’s Street Talk column, where investment bankers go to trumpet their incoming deal paydays, Octopus has agreed to buy the 577 megawatt (MW) second stage of the Golden Plains wind farm near Geelong from Portugal-based developer TagEnergy.

Neither party would comment on the report when contacted by Renew Economy, but it would make sense for TagEnergy, giving it a new injection of capital to invest in its growing portfolio of other gigawatt scale projects.

Golden Plains will be Australia’s biggest – by quite a fair margin – when the two stages are completed and deliver a combined capacity of 1.33 gigawatts. The next biggest is the delayed and still incomplete 923 MW MacIntyre wind farm in Queensland.

The first 766 MW stage of Golden Plains – still the biggest operating wind farm in the country – is already complete, while the second stage is still being commissioned.

TagEnergy did something that no other developer is prepared to do, particularly with a major project, when it decided to finance and start construction of Golden Plains on a “merchant” basis – but it quickly landed significant off-take deals to support its business case.

The second stage is supported by a long term agreement with EnergyAustralia for around 40 per cent of its output.

TagEnergy said when it began construction of the first stage in 2022 that the whole project would cost more than $3 billion. It would likely cost nearly twice as much now given the higher cost of civil construction works and labour, but if it did manage to keep to budget than the $2 billion plus sales tag cited by the AFR might deliver a good return.

TagEnergy is led and managed by former executives of Neoen Australia, and is backed by some of the same investors, including Paris-headquartered private equity firm Impala SAS and Natixis-backed green investor Mirova.

Once complete, Golden Plains stage 2 will host 93 of the 213 turbines located at the complex, which is also seeing a 150 MW, 600 MWh battery added that has a “virtual toll” agreement with Snowy Hydro.

A third stage of the project is also mooted, potentially adding another 129 turbines and between 700 MW and 1,000 of new capacity. If it gains planning approval, construction is expected to start in late 2028, TagEnergy says on its website.

.The AFR noted that the purchase of Golden Plains 2 comes a week after it was also reported that Octopus had secured investment from Japan’s giant public pension fund.

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