Iberdrola, a Spanish electric utility, has purchased the under development Avonlie solar project owned by the UK-based RES. The project is located in New South Wales, Australia. It has a generating capacity of 245 MW dc/190 MW ac. When fully operational, the project will have 450,000 solar panels installed on a single axis tracking system. They are estimated to generate enough electricity to power around 80,000 New South Wales households.
The project has entered its construction phase after several years of environmental investigations and considerable community participation. The NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment granted the project planning approval in August 2019. Lumea will provide grid connection services for the duration of the project, with construction set to begin later this year and commissioning by the end of 2022.
Australia has been witnessing some acquisition activity in the recent months. Recently, ACE Power, financed by the German investment holding Pelion Green Future, entered the Australian renewable energy market, with a pipeline of approximately 1.3 GW of solar, wind and battery storage projects. The company’s operations will span across the development, construction, ownership and operation of renewable energy assets. The solar and wind portfolio has been purchased from the Australian renewable energy developer CleanGen Projects.
