European Energy’s first Australian solar project has been inaugurated in Winton, Victoria, with the group’s co-founder and CEO Erik Andersen making a special trip to inspect the operational testing of the 58MW Mokoan Solar Farm.
Construction at Mokoan was completed in late 2024, ahead of schedule and under budget, less than a year after European Energy’s financial investment decision.
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Andersen also visited the group’s next solar project in its 9GW pipeline, the 100MW Lancaster Solar Farm, where a traditional Aboriginal smoking ceremony was performed to mark the beginning of construction.
This was followed by a tour of Rio Tinto’s aluminium smelter in Gladstone, with European Energy recently inking a large-scale PPA with the mining giant to purchase 100% of the energy generated from the upcoming Upper Calliope Solar Farm.
Andersen told Energy Source & Distribution Australia was a promising market for renewables.
“Our Australian team has a strong 9GW pipeline of projects under development, and seeing the first solar farm becoming operational is a proud moment,” he said.
“We plan to make a break ground on more than 300MW of new capacity this year. The team has built up a pipeline of more than 9GW of new capacity, and we have just made our first FID in Australia in relation to battery storage. This will be the first of our hybrid projects combining solar, wind and batteries in one gross connection point. We see that as the way we are going to do things here in Australia.”
While the bulk of its project pipeline comprises solar and batteries, Anderson also indicated the group would be pursuing other forms of renewable energy in the future.
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“We are very keen to progress wind farm developments as we do in other markets. That’s a high priority,” he said.
“We think Australia has very good conditions for making both biomethanol and e-methanol. We are considering a facility producing methanol, either for the maritime sector or for production of green plastic.”
