The three solar farms are the 17MWp Longreach Solar Farm located near Longreach, the 30MWp Oakey 1 Solar Farm and 70MWp Oakey 2 Solar Farm, located near the township of Oakey.
FSFL would acquire 49% stake each in the Longreach and Oakey 1 solar farms and will completely buy the Oakey 2 project.
Foresight Group partner Ricardo Pineiro said: “We are delighted to have made this solar acquisition in Australia on behalf of FSFL.
“We have enjoyed working closely with Canadian Solar, with whom we look forward to delivering a strong pipeline of future energy projects both in Australia and other international markets.”
Both Oakey 1 and Longreach solar farms have been secured with 20-year offtake agreements with the Queensland Government.
Oakey 1 and Longreach, which are currently being constructed, are expected to connect to the Queensland grid in March and September 2018 respectively.
The two solar farms have been financed till date by equity from Canadian Solar, grants from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) along with senior debt from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.
The third solar farm, Oakey 2 is anticipated to connect to the state grid in October 2018. It is expected to benefit from selling its power and large-scale generation certificates (LGCs) under the Renewable Energy Target regulatory framework.
Canadian Solar chairman and CEO Dr. Shawn Qu said: “Canadian Solar is very well positioned in Australia with an 800+MW pipeline of early to late-stage developments and these projects will directly contribute to the Federal Government's Renewable Energy Target and State Government initiatives in generating affordable clean energy.”
The acquisitions will be closed based on meeting of certain conditions including approvals from relevant stakeholders.
