Wyalong solar farm set for construction after being snapped up by Greek company

The renewables arm of Greek industrial company Mytilineos has snapped up a 75MW solar farm planned for West Wyalong in the New South Wales Riverina region, from the project’s developers, ESCO Pacific.

The Wyalong solar farm is committed for construction, and comes complete with state government approvals and grid connection agreements with the Australian Energy Market Operator and local network company Essential Energy.

Mytilineos said this week that it had acquired the project through its Renewables and Storage Development (RSD) Business Unit, taking its Australian portfolio to 290MW, including a group of six projects in New South Wales and Queensland, three of which are currently under construction.

According to Mytilineos, the Wyalong project also comes with a “high quality” power purchase agreement, although it did not specify with whom. ESCO’s 175MWp Finley solar farm in 2018 secured a seven-year PPA to supply 66% of the project’s output to BlueScope Steel.

The $130 million Wyalong solar farm, which is also reported to have approval for 25MWh of battery storage, had been slated to begin construction by early 2020, with commissioning due to commence in mid-2020.

In a statement this week, ESCO Pacific managing director Steven Rademaker said that construction activities were now set to begin, with Mytilineos on board as the project’s equity and construction partner.

“Achieving this milestone on our Wyalong Solar Farm is a fantastic outcome for ESCO Pacific, bringing our developed project capacity to 681MW of utility-scale solar in Australia and cementing our position as one of the leading developers in the market,” Rademaker said.

Nikos Papapetrou, general manager of the RSD Business Unit stated said the acquisition of Wyalong consolidated the company’s position in the Australian market.

“We are pleased to partner with a professional developer like ESCO Pacific in Australia,” he said.

Mytilineos was advised on the acquisition in the acquisition by PwC and HSF. Once complete, the solar farm is expected to generate enough electricity to power approximately 30,000 Australian homes.