DIF, an independent infrastructure fund manager, has acquired a 180-megawatt Warradarge Wind Farm, the third and largest asset to be acquired by the renewable energy investment vehicle Bright Energy Investments, which is a joint venture between DIF Infrastructure V, CBUS and Synergy.
The Warradarge Wind Farm is a greenfield project located near Eneabba in Western Australia. The total output will have a circa 50 percent capacity factor, the equivalent to the average annual electricity needs of 135,000 Western Australian homes.
Vestas has been awarded the engineering, procurement and construction contract as well as the operations and maintenance contract with a yield-based availability guarantee. Construction is expected to commence in early 2019, creating up to 200 local jobs and first power is expected to be generated in 2020.
Its 51 turbines will be among the largest in Western Australia with a tip height of 152 meters, sporting some of the longest blades onshore at 66 meters. Synergy, an electricity generator and retailer that is owned by the Western Australian Government, will purchase all electricity and renewable certificates from the project, assisting Synergy and Western Australia to meet its 2020 Large-scale Renewable Energy Target obligations.
This investment fits neatly within DIF’s mandate to acquire infrastructure and renewable energy assets that will deliver long-term stable cash flows for the fund and add to DIF’s existing portfolio of Australian renewable energy assets.
