US investment magnate Warren Buffett has made his first major play into the Australian renewables sector, with the purchase of two operating solar farms in New South Wales, and a deal to co-develop a multi-gigawatt pipeline of solar and battery storage projects.
The two NSW projects are the 150MW (ac) Suntop solar farm and the 105MW (ac) Gunnedah solar farm, which have been bought from Canadian Solar by CalEnergy Resources Australia, a subsidiary of Northern Powergrid, which is in turn is owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co.
The deal between Canadian Solar and Buffett’s CalEnergy extends to a multi-year development services agreement that provides a framework for the two companies to work together to build out Canadian Solar’s growing renewable energy pipeline in Australia.
Buffett’s main renewables play so far has been through MidAmerican Energy, based in Dec Moines, Idaho, along with much of his other businesses, but of his renewables play has been in wind energy, not solar.
MidAmerican boasts more than 7,300MW of wind capacity and 64MW of solar energy in its renewable energy portfolio, and has plans for a big 2GW wind project with some 50GW of solar. He is also behind the Gemini project in Nevada which will boast 690MW of solar and 590MW of battery storage (no duration revealed).
“We are delighted to work with CalEnergy in Australia to grow their renewable energy portfolio,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, the chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar.
“The sale of these projects in New South Wales paves the way for a strong collaboration between our respective companies. In Australia, we have now brought seven development projects to NTP (notice-to-proceed) and beyond, and continue to develop and grow our multi-GW solar and storage pipeline.
“I look forward to continuing to contribute to Australia’s decarbonization and renewable energy growth ambitions.”
Suntop and Gunnedah both have long term supply agreements with global online shopping giant Amazon for around two thirds of their output, part of Amazon’s commitment to source the equivalent of all its electricity consumption from renewables.
Amazon announced in May that both Suntop and Gunnedah had started sending power to the grid.
Canadian Solar says the two projects, which have a combined capacity of 345MW (on a dc basis) have now reached substantial completion and are expected to generate more than 700,000MWh a year, avoiding more than 450,000 tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions annually.
These are the first operating assets in Australia for CalResources, which has focused mainly on the oil and gas industry since being established in the 1970s, and owns two as yet undeveloped gas projects in Australia. It also owns projects in the UK and Poland.
Its project developments are managed by Perth-based Travis Enman, an ex Woodside and Shell executive who established the company’s Australian operations since 2011.
