Singapore firm buys more than 300MW Australia wind projects

Sydney-based company OneWind Australia has sold more than 300MW of local wind power assets – including the late-stage development 150-177MW Lincoln Gap wind farm in South Australia and 75MW Glen Innes in NSW – in a deal with Singapore-based independent power producer Nexif Energy.

The wind farms, along with a 32 per cent share in RPVD Development, which owns the Walkaway II wind and solar projects in WA, were sold to Nexif for an undisclosed sum, according to a statement released on Tuesday by the deal’s brokers, Norton Rose Fulbright.

The divestment comes just under four years after OneWind was established in Sydney, as the vehicle for a planned $75 million, 1GW investment in wind power in Australia by US-based private equity fund Denham Capital Management.

As we reported at the time – May, 2013 – Denham’s arrival on the scene was hoped to accelerate the development of the Australian wind farms at a time when policy support for large-scale renewables was at a seriously low ebb.

The divestment by OneWind appears to be another strategic shift in the market by Denham.

“To accelerate development of our OneWind Australia projects Lincoln Gap and Glen Innes, we have tasked Nexif to undertake management of the projects, expanding the execution capabilities of the existing OneWind Australia team,” said Denham Capital director, Saurabh Anand.

“Nexif is well-located geographically to bring expertise and efficiency to the projects. We’re excited about this transition and the value the projects will bring to Australia in the near future, particularly with the recent positive changes in the Australian power renewable market.”

Nexif Energy – which is another Denham-backed company, to the tune of $200 million – says it has already entered into contracts with Germany’s Senvion to engineer, supply and construct Lincoln Gap and Glen Innes.

As was reported here last month, both wind farms will be the first in Australia to use Senvion’s new 3.6M140 turbine, which has a 20 per cent higher energy yield to its predecessor and a quieter sound in all operating modes.

Nexif co-founder and joint CEO Matthew Bartley, said works had begun at the Glen Innes site in early January 2017 and the company had begun offering market-based LGC and energy contracts to counterparties and customers.

“Representing an investment of over $600 million when constructed, our wind farm projects in Australia form a major part of our growth plans,” said Nexif’s other co-founder and CEO, Surender Singh.

“We look forward to building a portfolio of complementary power generation projects in Australia,” Singh said.

Norton Rose Fulbright partner Ben Smits, who led the “strategic divestment” said it was part of increasing momentum in Australian renewables investment.

“The Australian …renewable market is experiencing unprecedented change, and it is an honour to work side-by-side key industry players such as Denham and Nexif as they play a fundamental role in transitioning towards cleaner power sources,” Smits said.