Zen Energy inks deal to power supermarkets and offices with Queensland solar

A solar farm in Queensland’s Western Downs region will power more than a dozen retail, office and industrial sites in the state as part of a new deal inked between Zen Energy and Australian property company ISPT.

ISPT said on Thursday that the six-year agreement with Zen, which kicks off in 2025, will supply solar energy to 14 of its properties, including major shopping centres in Brisbane and Ipswich and on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts.

“When the agreement commences, 90% of the electricity needs across our entire portfolio will come from renewables – putting us close to achieving our goal of being 100% powered by renewables by 2025,” said ISPT chief sustainability officer Steven Peters.

The 200MW Blue Grass solar farm, near the Queensland town of Chinchilla, was the first renewables project to be developed in Australia by Spain-based X-Elio, which is co-owned by US investment firms Brookfield and KKR.

The project, which was officially launched just over a year ago, had financial backing from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), ING and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and signed early off-take deals with Salesforce, Stanwell Corporation and Zen.

(As a side note, Blue Grass solar farm has featured on the charts for Australia’s best performing solar farms – including taking out top spot in the middle of winter.)

Zen CEO Anthony Garnuat said this week that partnering with “like-minded organisations” committed to taking the steps needed to limit global warming was what his company was all about.

“ISPT is backed by some of Australia’s largest industry super funds, has a formidable ESG program and is on track to be carbon positive by 2025,” Garnaut said.

ISPT claims to have been carbon neutral across its property and corporate operations since 2020. As well as boosting those efforts, the new deal with Zen will increase the group’s use of renewable electricity while also supplying it to tenants.