Goldwind closes financing to build 530 MW Stockyard Hill wind farm in Australia

Goldwind Australia, a subsidiary of Chinese wind turbine manufacturer has secured financing for the construction of the 530MW Stockyard Hill, considered to the largest onshore wind farm in Australia.

Financing to Goldwind Australia was provided by the National Australia Bank (NAB) along with a nine-member domestic and international bank syndicate.

The bank syndicate includes ABN AMRO, the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ (MUFG), Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Mizuho Bank, Societe Generale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking (SMBC) and Westpac Banking.

Goldwind Australia managing director John Titchen said: “The nearly A$700m ($540m) project financing for the Stockyard Hill Wind Farm is the result of significant effort from the banks, advisors and our team.

“This very competitive wind farm is being built as a result of the Australian Government’s successful Renewable Energy Target and the long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Origin Energy.”

Goldwind acquired the wind farm from Origin Energy back in May this year for A$110m ($81.6m). As part of the deal, Goldwind will sell the electricity from the wind farm to Origin Energy until 2030 under a power purchase agreement (PPA).

The wind farm will be located near Beaufort and Skipton in Western Victoria. It will include 149 turbines each producing 3.55MW of clean electricity. This is enough to be supplied to as many as 400,000 Australian homes.

In May, Goldwind Americas had also entered into an agreement with Renewable Energy Systems Americas (RES) to acquire the 160MW Heart of Texas Wind Project in McCulloch County, Texas, US. The Heart of Texas Wind Project, located approximately 125 miles northwest of Austin, was planned to utilize Goldwind GW 121/2.5MW wind turbines.

cleantechnology-business-review.com