TagEnergy, the company developing what will be – for a time at least – the biggest wind and battery project in Australia, has received a massive funding boost from three large French investors to expand its pipeline of renewable projects.
Tag was set up in 2019 by Franck Woitiez, the former head of Neoen Australia – ranked as one of the most successful investors in wind, solar and battery storage in the country – and is looking to repeat that success.
The company already had the backing of Impala SAS, also a shareholder in Neoen, and has now raised €450 million ($A660 million) from Impala and two new shareholders Mirova and Omnes.
Each company has put in €150 million in the latest funding round. Impala remains the biggest shareholder and will control the company along with the management team, while Mirova and Omnes will each hold a strong minority share.
Woitiez told RenewEconomy that the new funding will support its pipeline of 2.7GW of renewable energy and storage projects, most of it in wind energy and three quarters of it in Australia.
TagEnergy announced in February it had taken a major stake in the Golden Plains wind and battery project in Victoria – the largest of its type in the country, and Wotiez says it has more wind and battery projects in Queensland, and is pursuing battery storage elsewhere.
“Australia has a huge growth potential and we have a good track record here,” said Woitiez, who splits his time between his new home base in Portugal, and Australia.
“It is a market oritened towards IPP (independent power producers), and Australia is a good territory for companies not hanging out for big subsidies. The market works well for projects that are competitive.
“You can deliver really significant projects in Australia, unlike what you can do in Europe, where the projects are small or take up to a decade to develop.”
Woitiez says the funding boost will be used for its equity share of developments such as Golden Plains, which could start construction this year, and its other projects.
TagEnergy is focusing on deals similar to Golden Plains, where it works with the original developers and takes equity stakes and offers its expertise in EPC contracts, project financing and grid connections.
“We have got a model which is different to what we have been doing in past – we like to do partnerships,” Woitiez said.
Jacques Veyrat, the chairman and co-founder of TagEnergy, and founder of Impala SAS, said the capital raising is timely to support TagEnergy’s growth at a critical time of transition in the renewable energy industry.
Mirova has close to €28 billion in assets under management, including about €2 billion in the energy transition infrastructure sector through five funds. It has invested in more than 300 wind, photovoltaic, hydro, storage, biomass, and low carbon mobility projects in Europe.
“The strategy of Mirova’s renewable energy funds has always been to participate in building new installed capacity alongside industrial partners and project developers,” said Raphael Lance, the head of Mirova Energy Transition funds.
Omnes has more than €5 billion of assets under management, with more than €3 billion under management purely in renewable energy investments.
“TagEnergy represents the ninth investment of our Capenergie 4 fund which already has ownership of more than 17GW of projects in 14 countries,” said infrastructure investment chief Serge Savasta.
“We believe the company has, under the management of Franck and his team and with its renowned investor base led by Impala, the ability to become a leading and disruptive clean power producer differentiated through agility and multi-local reach.”
See RenewEconomy’s maps of battery storage, onshore wind projects, and large scale solar projects.
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