$225m solar farm commences construction

The $225 million,148 MW Ross River Solar Farm in Townsville has commenced construction. 

The project will be funded through equity commitments from Palisade Investment Partners’ recently launched Palisade Renewable Energy Fund and three of Palisade’s institutional clients: the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), VicSuper and HESTA.

Solar developer ESCO Pacific obtained development approval for the solar farm from Townsville City Council in June 2016. It has since received approval for a further 470 MW of solar farms in Queensland, forming part of its secured development pipeline in excess of 1500 MW.

Palisade Investment Partners and ESCO signed a long-term PPA for Ross River with EnergyAustralia in December 2016. The partners then completed project development and Palisade arranged the senior debt for the project from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, The Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and Westpac Banking Corporation. Construction is expected to take 12 months and will be undertaken by Downer Utilities Australia, with oversight from CAT Projects as owner’s engineer.

The Palisade Renewable Energy Fund is open to commitments and has a diversified portfolio comprising Ross River and two operational wind farms. It will continue to invest in renewables projects across the spectrum — from late-stage development through to operational assets — giving investors access to a broad range of opportunities that meet sustainability objectives and generate stable long-term returns.

ESCO Pacific’s managing director and founder, Steve Rademaker, said: “Achieving financial close on the Ross River Solar Farm demonstrates ESCO Pacific’s ability to deliver projects to a bankable standard. We have a significant pipeline of projects and a proven platform to deliver projects to market over the coming years.”