South Australia’s newest solar farm secures off take with local business group

The Ross Garnaut-led utility Zen Energy has negotiated an off take agreement on behalf of a group of South Australian businesses with the owners of the newest large scale solar project in the state.

The 87MW Tailem Bend 2 project is being built next to the state’s first large scale solar farm, the 95MW Tailem Bend facility owned by Vena Energy, and contracted to Snowy Hydro.

Zen Energy, led by economist and climate expect Ross Garnaut announced on Wednesday that it had negotiated a bulk supply deal for the South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy (SACOME) joint electricity purchase group, which comprises manufacturing, retail, agriculture, and resource companies.

Zen secured an eight-year contract to supply Sacome with lower-cost electricity as well as delivering financial support for the development of new South Australian renewable energy resources.

The Sacome group includes local Foodland and IGA supermarkets, Viterra, Central Irrigation Trust, Adchem, and Hillgrove Resources.

“This once again highlights the benefits of collaboration across sectors, providing affordable power to some of South Australia’s largest energy users while supporting the development of new renewable power generation for the collective benefit of the state,” said Rebecca Knol, the CEO of Sacome.

The 87MW Tailem Bend 2 Solar Project, located south east of Adelaide, is expected to reach commercial operation in the first half of 2023. In addition to the solar farm, construction of the Tailem Bend 2 solar project also includes provisions for a 40MW battery energy storage system.

“The energy transition is about building more renewable energy and storage assets, like Tailem Bend 2,” said Anthony Garnaut, the CEO of Zen Energy CEO.

“There’s a chain of commitments that’s needed to make this happen.” He said the deal with Sacome created revenue certainty for new capital deployment into new, long-term assets for Australia.

“This is the first of several agreements that Zen is seeking to finalise in the next 12-18 months as we pursue our mission to lead communities into the zero-carbon world.”

See RenewEconomy’s Large Scale Solar Farm Map of Australia