Nexif Energy stated that it has completed financial close and notice to proceed to further add 86MW at its 126MW Lincoln Gap wind farm to be located in South Australia.
Image: Nexif to begin construction of next phase of Lincoln Gap wind farm. Photo: Courtesy of Claire Muldoon/FreeImages.com.
Nexif Energy stated that the second phase of the wind farm, which is located outside of Port Augusta in South Australia, will involve addition of 86MW to the wind farm which is already in advanced stage of construction.
When completed, the Lincoln Gap Wind Energy Generation & Storage Project will include 59 of Senvion 3.6MW turbines, totaling 212MW along with 10MWhr battery storage system from Fluence.
The wind and storage combined project will generate enough electricity to power up to 155,000 Australian households, while offsetting nearly 680,000 tonnes of carbon emissions annually.
Nexif founder and co-CEO Matthew Bartley said: “This is a continuation of our investment in South Australia where we are incredibly excited to be investing, and to be at the forefront with the first un-subsidised battery storage project for the state.
“There remains potential to further expand Lincoln Gap and we are now working on feasibility studies to determine how large that could be as well as trying to bring technologies together to add solar to the wind energy and battery storage at Lincoln Gap to create a genuine hybrid energy hub.”
Finance for the construction of this second phase has been secured in the form of A$150m ($108.2m) debt from its existing lender Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and new lender Westbourne Capital.
Nexif fellow founder and co-CEO Surender Singh said: “Through this pathbreaking integration of renewable wind power generation with battery storage system, Nexif Energy and its financiers have a committed investment of over A$480m ($346.4m), making it amongst the largest investors in South Australia.”
“We take this opportunity to thank our debt financing partners CEFC and Westbourne for confidence in Nexif Energy. We also look forward to working closely with construction partners Senvion and Fluence for on time completion of this important project.”
In January this year, Nexif Energy conducted groundbreaking ceremony at the wind farm’s site. During that time, the company stated that the construction process will create jobs between 110 and 130, with more than half of the people being sourced from South Australia.