Straits Times reported that Singapore’s Equis Energy is planning to build two solar power plants for $400 million in Australia. This will mark the Singapore-based renewable energy developer’s first major investment in Australia.
The two 100 megawatt solar plants will be built in South Australia and Queensland, which moves the country to achieve the federal government’s RET (renewable energy target) of at least 20% of the nationwide power to come from renewable energy by the year 2020.
Tailem Bend, the SA plant will be built next to a diesel-fired power station owned by Snowy Hydro, which has agreed to buy all the power from the solar plant, as stated by Equis. Construction of the plant will begin early this year.
According to David Russel, Equis Group chief executive said that by developing the Tailem Bend Solar Project and Snowy Hydro diesel projects together, the combined system will have the capability of providing stable power any time of the day across the entire year.
The second solar plant will be built in Collinsville North and will also begin early this year. The company also said that they have secured land rights that would allow it to build 1,000 megawatts more of large-scale solar projects, which they aim to build over the near term.
The two projects in the country will total the number of renewable energy projects under development and construction to 49.
The biggest independent infrastructure fund managed in Asia has about US $2.7 billion of funds. With the said amount, it has allocated US$2.4 billion to renewable energy.
The group has already built up a portfolio of 3.6 gigawatts of renewable energy projects in Asia. It has investments in Thailand with solar energy; India with solar, hydro and wind; The Philippines with hydro, wind and solar and Japan with wind and solar.
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