Link Securities | According to a press release issued by the company, Iberdrola has completed the acquisition of the Ararat wind farm, located in the state of Victoria (Australia), from Partners Group and OPTrust, after obtaining all the necessary authorisations to carry out the transaction.
With this transaction, the group now has a presence in five states in the country: New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia.
With a capacity of 242 megawatts (MW) and in operation since 2017, the wind farm becomes Iberdrola’s largest in Australia and is its first own-generation asset in Victoria, Australia’s second most populous and fastest-growing state.
This acquisition strengthens Iberdrola’s ability to supply its business customer portfolio with its own generation, while selling a significant portion of its production through power purchase agreements (PPAs), providing predictable cash flows in a state that aims to achieve 95% renewable energy by 2035.
Iberdrola has become one of the energy leaders in the Australian market with more than 2,500 MW of installed capacity, mainly distributed among onshore wind farms, solar plants and batteries. The company has also recently entered the country’s grid business with VNI West (Victoria to New South Wales Interconnector West), a key infrastructure that will connect the states of Victoria and New South Wales.
The operation also reaffirms Iberdrola’s commitment to expanding electrification through renewables, grids and storage to achieve self-sufficiency and energy security in all the geographical areas in which it operates worldwide.
This is the sixth transaction completed by Iberdrola so far this year, following the sale of its onshore generation in France, the sale of mini-hydro assets and the slurry business in Spain, the sale of Hungary and the addition of 650 MW of solar energy to the joint venture with Norges.
All these initiatives are in line with Iberdrola’s strategy of focusing its investments on its core businesses, mainly generation with long-term contracts or regulated networks, as well as on its key markets.
