Sydney Airport has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aussie utility Origin Energy and Grassroots Renewable Energy to purchase power from the 135MW Crudine Ridge wind farm located 45km south of Mudgee in New South Wales.
Image: The Sydney Airport in Australia. Photo: courtesy of Mathieumcguire at English Wikipedia.
The power purchase agreement (PPA) is part of the airport’s renewables transition plan and its effort to reduce its carbon footprint by 50% by 2025.
Sydney Airport will receive up to 75% of its current electricity from the wind project under the MoU, which combines renewables with firming generation.
The airport will be supplied with wind power from the Crudine Ridge Wind Farm contracted through Origin, which will provide baseload firming generation when the wind is not blowing enough to meet the airport’s load.
Origin Energy executive general manager, energy supply and operations, Greg Jarvis, said: “When Sydney Airport approached us wanting a cost-effective way to meet their energy needs and reduce emissions, we developed an innovative agreement where we contract the wind and bundle it with firming energy in an all-in-one package.
“Sydney is Australia’s busiest airport, operating around the clock – the combination of wind and firming is perfect to meet their load and help them transition to cleaner energy supply.”
The A$250m ($184m) Crudine Ridge project is being implemented under the Grassroots Renewable Energy Platform, a joint initiative between CWP Renewables and Swiss investment manager Partners Group.
Scheduled to be fully commissioned by late 2019, the wind farm will feature 37 turbines which will generate 400,000Mwh annually, reducing Australia’s CO2 emissions by around 360,000 tons annually.
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said “This is a significant step forward for the business. We have been proactively working with Grassroots Renewable Energy and Origin Energy to address how we could better capture energy savings through renewables.
“This innovative arrangement enables us to lock in wholesale costs under attractive terms for one of our significant cost items, while supporting and fostering the growth of renewable energy in Australia.”
Earlier this year, Origin agreed to provide firming generation to the University of NSW to complement the latter’s offtake agreement with Sunraysia Solar Farm.