Australian developer AGL Energy and infrastructure investor QIC have formed an up to AUS$3bn partnership to build wind and solar farms down under.
The duo have said their Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF) will target 1GW of large scale renewable energy infrastructure.
QIC will stump up AUS$800m and AGL will provide AUS$200m. The remainder of the fund’s cash will be raised through debt on a project-by-project basis.
AGL’s up to 200MW Silverton wind farm in New South Wales and up to 350MW Coopers Gap project in Queensland will be the first two projects offered to PARF, the companies said.
The fund also expects to acquire AGL’s 102MW Nyngan and 53MW Broken Hill solar plants as seed assets and to commit to its first new build project by March 2017.
AGL chief executive Andy Vesey said: “PARF is a major step forward in helping to unlock growth in renewable generation – but other challenges remain, first and foremost addressing Australia’s over-supplied energy generation market.
“An orderly exit of aged, high carbon emitting plant is integral to creating sustainable conditions for further investment in new renewables and Australia’s pathway to decarbonisation. We look forward to working with energy industry participants, the government and the community to address this.”
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