The Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) has provided a AU$90 million loan to two Edify Energy solar projects near Collinsville, north Queensland, Australia, which are soon to start construction.
CEFC solar lead Gloria Chan said: “This transaction marks a significant turning point for large-scale solar financing in Australia. We worked alongside Commonwealth Bank and Natixis to deliver a syndicated facility where all parties were comfortable with providing long-term finance that extends past the period covered by the contracted offtake agreement.
“It further demonstrates that it is now possible to develop commercially viable large-scale solar projects without grant funding.”
Engineering firm RCR Tomlinson also announced that it has won the AU$315 million EPC and O&M contract for the two projects, the 150MW(AC) Daydream Solar Farm and the 50MW(AC) Hayman Solar Farm.
Edify recently signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 150MW farm with the utility Origin.
CEFC is also financing three other solar plants at the Collinsville site, a former coal mining zone. These include Edify’s 57.5MW(AC) Whitsunday Solar Farm and the 57.5MW(AC) Hamilton Solar Farm, which are already under construction. The fifth plant is a 42MW(AC) farm being developed by RATCH-Australia Corporation.
RCR EPC wins
In Separate news, RCR also won a AU$28 million EPC contract with Solar Powerstations Victoria for the 19MW Swan Hill Solar Farm in Victoria, earlier this month. Australian funds manager, Impact Investment Group (IIG), will fund the solar farm’s construction.
Furthermore, RCR has also signed an Early Works Letter with RES Australia to work together to develop on an EPC contract to deliver an 80MW solar farm near Emerald in Queensland.
RCR now has over half a Gigawatt of large-scale solar projects in its order book and more than a Gigawatt currently being developed or progressed under early contractor involvement processes, said RCR managing director and CEO, Paul Dalgleish.