Investment group Foresight has entered into a joint venture with oil major Shell’s subsidiary, Shell Energy Operations, to acquire development rights for a 370MW of renewables project in Western Australia.
The Kondinin Energy Development project, from Lacour Energy and Goldwind International Holdings, located 245km east of Perth, comprises various stages of development across wind, solar and battery storage, potentially including 80MW of solar PV and up to 60MW/120MWh of battery energy storage systems.
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Kondinin is in an advanced stage of development with land development approvals in place. The first stage, a 121MW wind farm, is expected to be operational in 2024.
The Australian Renewables Income Fund (ARIF), managed by Foresight – after its acquisition of asset manager Infrastructure Capital Group (ICG) in July 2022 – acquired the 50% interest, which expands the fund’s development pipeline to over 3GW of solar, wind, hydro and storage opportunities.
Tom Laidlaw, managing director at Foresight, said: “This is our second renewables investment alongside Shell, our first investment as part of Foresight, and it marks our second renewable energy investment into Western Australia. We see a lot of opportunity in WA with the state government earlier this year setting new ambitious interim emissions targets to reach net zero by 2050.”
Furthermore, the location of Kondinin in Western Australia and its late-stage development is strategically placed to support the decarbonisation of the mining and resources sector, according to Shell Australia’s country chair, Tony Nunan.
