Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S has acquired full ownership of a major wind and battery project in northern Queensland from Australian developer Windlab Pty Ltd. that is expected to be fully operational in 2030.
The Danish fund manager has made a final investment decision and secured a $1.7 billion facility from 10 banks for the Gawara Baya project, which has secured all major approvals, it said in a statement on Monday. The venture will combine a 408-megawatt onshore wind farm with a 104-megawatt battery energy storage system, and have the capacity to power up to 240,000 Australian homes, CIP said.
The deal moves a federally-supported project into construction as Australia seeks to attract private capital for the renewable generation and storage it needs to replace retiring coal plants. Gawara Baya is backed by Canberra’s Capacity Investment Scheme, which underwrites project revenue to accelerate investment.
The investment expands CIP’s Asia-Pacific portfolio, which includes a $4.2 billion commitment to develop the Philippines’s largest offshore wind project. It has also built a sizable offshore wind business in Taiwan, where it is considering selling a majority stake in the 600-megawatt Changfang-Xidao project, Bloomberg reported earlier.