EnergyAustralia will recieve a significant share of energy capacity from TagEnergy’s Golden Plains Wind Farm under a new ten-year renewable power purchase agreement (PPA).
The agreement will provide EnergyAustralia with around 40 per cent offtake, or up to 345MW, of Stage 2’s 577MW capacity, equivalent to more than 55 turbines.
Construction of Stage 2, also known as Golden Plains Wind Farm – West, commenced in June 2024 and is expected to be completed in mid-2027. The project’s 756MW Stage 1 (Golden Plains Wind Farm – East) will commence commercial operations in 2024 and is set to become the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere.
The 345MW of capacity from Golden Plains Wind Farm – West, located in Rokewood, 60km north-west of Geelong, will enable EnergyAustralia to power more than 178,000 Victorian homes and small businesses once fully commissioned.
EnergyAustralia Trading and Transition Executive, Ross Edwards, said this important offtake agreement advances the company’s strategic pathway to decarbonise its generation portfolio.
“The agreement with TagEnergy, together with the 350MW/1400MWh Wooreen battery to be built in the Latrobe Valley, are strategic projects driven by EnergyAustralia to deliver additional renewable energy and capacity for Victoria as our Yallourn coal-fired power station closes in 2028.
“This agreement expands our growing portfolio of renewable generation investments and is our largest offtake agreement. EnergyAustralia has secured over 1GW of solar and wind farm energy across the National Electricity Market.
“We are actively investing in a range of other flexible capacity initiatives to enable secure, affordable and reliable electricity for our customers. We have recently contracted for virtual storage with Akaysha Energy, and we are progressing the development of the Mt Piper and Hallett battery energy storage systems, and the Lake Lyell Pumped Hydro Energy Storage project at Lithgow.
“The future of our business will focus on orchestrating a diverse portfolio of energy assets, across wind, solar, pumped hydro, batteries and gas, as the industry transitions away from coal,” Mr Edwards said.
TagEnergy Managing Partner, Australia, Andrew Riggs, said TagEnergy welcomes the milestone agreement with EnergyAustralia to take a very significant share of the clean energy generated by the wind farm.
“This is the first PPA for Stage 2 of our mega-project that is accelerating the energy transition to help the world reach net zero carbon emissions sooner. It continues the success and momentum of our innovative investment approach and contracting strategy from Stage 1 – achieving financial close without the need for PPAs and progressively contracting energy production during construction and operation.
“We look forward to delivering renewable energy to support EnergyAustralia to achieve the decarbonisation of its generation portfolio and help power more Victorian homes and small businesses from renewable sources,” Mr Riggs said.
Construction of Stage 2 will provide more than 400 jobs across civil, electrical, turbine and grid connection work. When both stages of the 1,333MW Golden Plains Wind Farm are completed, the $4 billion project will deliver nine per cent of Victoria’s energy – enough to power 765,000 homes, or every home in regional Victoria.
Golden Plains Wind Farm is majority-owned by TagEnergy. Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, the owner of most IKEA stores globally, has a 15 per cent stake in Stage 1.
Featured image: EnergyAustralia.
