Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and infrastructure manager Palisade Investment Partners have announced a new strategy to attract investors at an early stage of renewable energy project development.
Palisade chief executive Roger Lloyd said the firm would build a portfolio of renewable energy projects in excess of AU$1 billion (US$769 million), based on investment mandates agreed with the CEFC and the other major investors. This would initially involve developing up to 500MW of solar and wind generation across Australia.
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The CEFC is providing up to AU$100 million of equity to the initial AU$1 billion investment strategy. Meanwhile, Palisade will allocate up to AU$400 million of additional equity. National Australia Bank Group and Commonwealth Bank will provide debt financing.
CEFC chief executive Oliver Yates said that institutional investors tend to buy built infrastructure projects, however, by attracting investors at an earlier stage of development through this new collaboration, the construction of commercially-viable projects can be accelerated.
Yates added: “This means we can inject equity into projects at the time they need it most, so they can begin generating energy as soon as possible.”
The news comes shortly after a controversial reallocation of AU$1.3 billion of Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) towards an innovation, which the government announced as new funding, but which industry members claimed was a “disguised stripping” of ARENA’s renewable energy budget
Yates said: “Australia has a considerable funding gap in new investments in renewable energy if we are to meet the Renewable Energy Target. We expect this transaction will play an important role in catalysing new finance to help close that gap and accelerate our overall renewable energy capacity.”
Yesterday, ARENA said it would provide AU$17 million funding for nine renewable energy research and development projects looking at energy storage and solar PV among other technologies, but concerns were raised about the long-term prospects of R&D funding in the country.
Today polling data, conducted by ReachTEL, also revealed that 63.5% of people surveyed across the federal electorate of Wentworth, which is prime minister Malcolm Turnbull's own electorate, would be more likely to vote for a party which had a policy to gradually transition Australia away from coal-fired power to 100% renewable power by 2030.
The poll also found that Wentworth came second last in terms of solar uptake across Australia.
Claire O’Rourke, national director of campaign group Solar Citizens, said: “Large numbers of people’s voting intentions are clearly being influenced by political decisions and policy measures on renewables by the major parties. The Prime Minister should note that 6.2% of voters in Wentworth surveyed are currently uncommitted to their vote, and 28.6% are just ‘somewhat committed’.”
