The 113.2MW Bodangora wind farm will begin construction after reaching financial close, Infigen Energy announced today.
The $236 million wind farm, located near Wellington in New South Wales, received $80 million in funding from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC).
It is the CEFC’s second major investment in wind generation in regional NSW in the past year, following its recent commitment of $120 million to the Sapphire Wind Farm near Glen Innes.
In February, the CEFC committed a further $150 million to accelerate the construction of three large-scale solar farms in NSW, to be built in Dubbo, Parkes and Griffith.
“With these projects we are seeing regional New South Wales capitalising on its natural strengths in renewable energy, contributing to a substantial increase in the state’s clean energy capacity,” CEFC Wind sector lead Andrew Gardner said.
“New South Wales has set an aspirational goal targeting net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”
Once operational, the Bodangora wind farm is expected to produce enough energy to meet the needs of over 49,000 homes, and provide 120 jobs during construction and seven full-time jobs during its operational life.
“Building Bodangora wind farm is the first significant milestone in delivering on Infigen’s growth ambitions,” Infigen Energy managing director Ross Rolfe said.
“We have been delighted to work with our partners in bringing this project to fruition.”
EnergyAustralia will purchase 60 per cent of Bodangora’s energy generation to 2030, with the balance of the project’s output to be actively managed within Infigen’s energy markets risk framework.
Germany’s Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) bank is also making its first wind financing in Australia, as a co-lender to the Bodangora project.
“By supporting projects such as Bodangora, which have an element of merchant energy price risk, we are delivering a tailored financing model that supports the developer’s needs as well as mitigates risk to the lender,” CEFC project lead Bobby Vidakovic said.
“We welcome the recent entry of NORB/LB to the Australian renewable energy market, which is creating an additional source of finance for large-scale renewable energy projects.
“We hope to see increasing participation from commercial lenders in the future as the economics of these projects gain strength.”
Bodangora will include 33 General Electric (GE) 3.43MW turbines and it is targeted to be fully operational in the second half of 2018.
“We are pleased to bring energy experience and expertise to the Bodangora wind farm,” GE Australia chief executive officer Geoff Culbert said.
“The turbines to be installed are part of our newest, most powerful and scalable platform.
“Through our service and maintenance agreement, we also look forward to adding maximum value to the project for years to come.”
The wind farm will be built by a consortium comprising GE and civil-engineering construction company Civil & Allied Technical Construction (CATCON) under an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract.
