Construction is ready to commence on the $280 million Granville Harbour Wind Farm in Tasmania, with Palisade Investment Partners - the project developer - reaching financial close for the project.
The new 112MW wind farm is going to be located on a 1,200-hectare cattle farm at Granville Harbour in Tasmania’s west coast.
The project will comprise of 31 wind turbines - which will be supplied, commissioned and serviced by Vestas - that will have the capacity to power more than 46,000 homes in the region.
The Granville Harbour Wind Farm was initially developed by Westcoast Wind and conducted long-term wind monitoring on site as well as secured the necessary approvals for the project. In February 2018, Westcoast Wind was acquired by Palisade.
Both Palisade and Westcoast Wind had negotiated with Hydro Tasmania for a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) back in September 2017. Following the acquisition of Westcoast Wind, Palisade completed project development which includes the finalisation of agreements with TasNetwork for the wind farm’s connection to the electricity grid; and raising senior debt from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, MUFG Bank as well as Westpac Banking Corporation.
“Granville Harbour Wind Farm demonstrated Palisade’s hands-on approach to renewables investment and further diversifies our renewable energy portfolio. Palisade’s involvement through the development phase to financial close enables us to maximise risk-adjustment returns for our investors,” Palisade Managing Director and CEO Roger Lloyd said.
The Granville Harbour Wind Farm project is backed by the Australian Government through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), with the development receiving approximately $59 million.
This project is being funded through equity commitments from Palisade’s Renewable Energy Fund (PREF) and CEFC.
Through a statement, Acting Minister for Energy Peter Gutwein said: “Today’s announcement confirms Tasmania’s status as the nation’s renewable energy powerhouse. This development is in line with the Hodgman Liberal Government’s Tasmanian-First Energy Policy, which has an ambitious target of achieving the lowest regulated power prices in the country by 2022, and to make Tasmania 100 per cent self-sufficient in renewable energy by 2022.”
Granville Harbour Wind Farm is expected to create approximately 200 jobs during construction, with an additional 10 ongoing operational jobs.
Commercial operations of the wind farm is expected to commence by the fourth quarter of 2019.
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Source: Premier of Tasmania, Renew Economy, The Advocate, Palisade Investment Partners
