The Ararat wind farm is set to undergo a massive expansion with the investment pouring in from Partners Group. Partners Group, a global private markets investment manager, has pumped money into the expansion of Ararat Windfarm in Australia in the interest of its customers. This was announced a day after the Government passed the Renewable Energy Target (RET) bill. Partner Groups is the largest shareholder to finance the 240MW project, with investors such as RES Australia, General Electrics, OPTrust and Canadian Pension Fund. The AUD 450-million project was actually initiated by Renewable Energy Australia.
Ararat wind farm is a newly-built windfarm, located in Western Victoria. The project on the site will begin as soon as possible, with an anticipated completion date around mid- 2017. After completion, it is anticipated that the windfarm’s 75-wind turbines will have a combined capacity of 240MW, which will make it the third-largest wind farm in Australia. Averagely, it will be able to produce power to about 123,000 households annually.
This same venture was awarded a 20-year Feed-in-Tariff by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Government for about 80MW capacity of the wind farm. The Managing Director and Head of Private Infrastructure Asia-Pacific at Partner Group, Benjamin Haan, will be among the Board members of Ararat Windfarm.
"Ararat Wind Farm is a well-structured project with high-quality counterparties and a strong wind resource. The timing of our investment aligns with increased certainty around Australia's Renewable Energy Target, which will require a substantial build-out of renewables in the coming years. The wind farm will make a great contribution not only to the local community in Ararat, in the form of employment, education and investment, but also to the future of renewable energy in Australia," said Benjamin.
Source:
Partners Group, 26 June 2015. Partners Group invests in AUD 450 million wind farm development in Australia, accessed June 26, 2015