Solar energy developer Stellata Energy and UK-based conglomerate Ingenious have formed a joint venture which will fund over A$200m ($150.8m) on a pipeline of solar farms across Australia.
Included in the pipeline is a flagship 120MW ground-mounted project.
The funding comes at a time when the Australian Government's federal renewable energy target is seeking to double the existing capacity of large-scale renewable energy to 33,000GWh by 2020.
Through this, the government has paved way for privately backed investment opportunities in the renewable energy sector, said Ingenious.
The British group said that the Stellata team is well equipped to bring large-scale solar energy capacity in Western Australia. It has cited the company’s development of over 600MW of solar capacity across Europe in ground-mounted and rooftop solar formats put together as an example of its capabilities.
Ingenious Infrastructure managing director Sebastian Speight said: “Ingenious has worked closely with the team at Stellata on previous ventures and their track record of delivering high quality solar projects is testament to their knowledge and expertise in this sector.
“Australia has huge potential to benefit from solar energy, due to its geographical positioning and high levels of irradiation, and we are confident that Stellata can fully capture the rewards this technology can offer.”
Through the joint venture, the resource and capacity of Stellata are expected to get a significant lift from the team of investment professionals at Ingenious. In the past, the Ingenious team had raised and deployed more than £9bn, out of which £500m has been for renewables projects in the UK and Ireland.
Stellata director Troy Santen said: “As a West Australian company, we are very excited to be partnering with Ingenious in our quest to bring utility scale solar power to our state. Our collaboration will drive forward the development of solar PV projects, as well as the creation of jobs in local communities.”