A major electricity retailer has signed a long-term agreement to purchase 60 per cent of Bodangora Wind Farm’s renewable energy.
Energy Australia agreed to a deal with Infigen Energy, the developer of the wind farm, which is located near Wellington in central west New South Wales.
The 33-turbine, 113MW capacity project will produce enough emissions-free, renewable energy to meet the electricity needs of more than 64,000 households.
EnergyAustralia Managing Director, Catherine Tanna, said the Bodangora agreement was the fourth the company had signed since announcing in December a $1.5 billion program to buy power from new wind and solar energy projects across eastern Australia.
EnergyAustralia has now secured power purchase agreements for 285MW of renewable energy in less than three months of the program, more than halfway to its goal of 500MW.
“We’re really pleased to add a quality project like Bodangora to our power purchase portfolio. The reality is these are the projects that will underpin Australia’s future energy mix and it’s up to us to provide the support they need to get built,” Ms Tanna said.
“EnergyAustralia owns two of the largest coal-fired power stations in the country which right now provides customers with reliable, affordable electricity.
“But over the next 20 years existing coal-fired plants will retire and the community is looking to companies like EnergyAustralia to show leadership in developing new supplies of cleaner, reliable and affordable energy.”
EnergyAustralia’s power purchase program will contribute toward the Australian Government’s Renewable Energy Target to have 23.5 per cent of total energy in the national electricity market provided by renewable sources by 2020.
The 13-year Bodangora power purchase agreement will underpin financing and construction of the project.
Infigen Energy Managing Director, Ross Rolfe, said the company was looking forward to working with EnergyAustralia to expand its existing renewable energy portfolio.
“We are pleased to be able to announce this important step towards our goal of proceeding to construction of a new wind farm.
“We are working diligently towards finalising other elements of the project in order to reach a near-term final investment decision and financial close,” Mr Rolfe said.
The Bodangora commitment follows EnergyAustralia’s agreements to buy:
- All the output from the 48.5MW Manildra solar farm in New South Wales
- 80 per cent of the output from the 142MW Ross River solar farm in Queensland
- All of the output from the 60MW Gannawarra solar farm in Victoria.
Ms Tanna said negotiations between EnergyAustralia and proponents of other solar and wind projects across eastern Australia to meet the 500MW of new renewable projects were well advanced.
EnergyAustralia’s existing renewable energy program includes the rights to more than 450MW of electricity from wind farms in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, which produce enough power to meet the annual electricity needs of 300,000 average homes each year.
