Infigen Energy has reached financial close to begin the construction of the 113.2MW Bodangora wind farm near Wellington in New South Wales, Australia.
Before reaching the financial close, Infigen purchased 50% stake in the project to attain full onwership of the wind farm. Infigen will also operate the wind farm once the construction is completed in the second half of 2018.
The total cost of the project is about $180m, which will include $124m funding from Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. The remaining $56m of the cost will be met through equity from Infigen.
The wind farm, which will include 33 of 3.43MW turbines to be supplied by GE, will raise revenues through power purchase agreement (PPA) with EnergyAustralia, which will buy 60% of the annual energy output until December 2030.
Infigen will sell the remaining 40% of the electricity to commercial or industrial customers or sell it energy in the wholesale market.
The wind farm will be built by consortium which includes General Electric, Civil & Allied Technical Construction under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.
During the construction phase, the wind farm could generate about 120 direct jobs and post-construction will create 7 permanent jobs during the operational life of the wind farm.
Infigen managing director Ross Rolfe said: “We are excited to announce that Infigen is proceeding with constructing a new wind farm and look forward to delivering a high quality project. This project could not proceed without the support of the local community for which we are grateful.”
Rolfe said: “Building Bodangora wind farm is the first significant milestone in delivering on Infigen’s growth ambitions. In a market with ageing coal-fired generation and expensive gas, the combination of renewable technologies and storage can offer secure and reliable supply in a lower emissions economy.
“We believe that the combination of revenues from the PPA and the sale of electricity and LGCs through various channels to market will enable the investment in Bodangora to create value for Infigen’s securityholders. The opportunity and capacity to integrate a substantial volume of new renewable energy generation in NSW makes the state one of the key markets for Infigen.”