Windlab lands PPA for wind, solar and storage project

The newly listed Australian renewable energy developer Windlab has secured a landmark power purchase agreement (PPA) for what will be the country’s first grid-connected large scale hybrid project combining wind, solar and battery storage.

Windlab announced this week that it has secured a 10-year agreement with the Queensland government-owned  CS Energy, which will buy both the renewable energy and some of the large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) produced from phase 1 of the Kennedy Energy Park.

The first phase of Kennedy is for a 60.5MW hybrid renewable energy project comprises 43.5MW of wind capacity, 15MW of solar PV capacity and a 2MW Lithium ion battery storage installation near Hughenden.

Kennedy is a 50/50 joint venture with Eurus Energy Holdings of Japan, and Windlab hopes to develop it into a massive 1200MW wind and solar project (plus storage) over time, providing the equivalent of “baseload” power in the north of the state. CS Energy has first option over the output of that expanded plant.

Windlab recently completed a capital raising and stock market listing to help it fund the first stage of the Kennedy project, and other projects in its pipeline.

“Finalising an off-take arrangement for the project is an important milestone in securing financing and advancing the project to financial close and construction,” executive chairman Roger Price said in a statement.