Renewable energy independent power producer (IPP) Vena Energy began operations at a 125MW PV site in the Australian state of Queensland last week, through a partnership with US technology giant Amazon.
The 125MW Amazon Solar Project Australia – Wandoan forms part of the larger Wandoan South Project, a renewable energy project with a total 650MW/450MW solar PV and battery energy storage capacity, owned by Vena Energy.
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The project has deployed over 250,000 solar modules and will support Amazon’s operations in Australia.
“Amazon is on a path to power our operations with 100% renewable energy by 2025,” said Ken Haig, head of energy and environment policy, Asia Pacific & Japan, Amazon Web Services.
“As the world’s largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy, our investment in our renewable energy projects, including the Wandoan project, helps deliver clean energy to local grids, creates new jobs, and supports local businesses.”
Amazon has become a very large player in the renewable energy market; it added over 1GW of solar and wind power operations to its portfolio in Europe alone last year. This is its first renewables project in Queensland, with existing sites already in New South Wales and Victoria.
Vena said that the entire Wandoan South project includes this Amazon Solar Project Australia – Wandoan, the proposed Wandoan South Solar 2, and ancillary support from Queensland’s largest utility-scale battery, the Wandoan South Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). Wandoan South Solar 2 is expected to reach operations by Q3 2026.
The developer reached financial close for the commissioned portion of the project in October 2022. The Wandoan South BESS reached operations in August 2022, as reported by our sister site Energy-storage.news.
Last month Queensland saw another big renewables deal take place: Enel Green Power Australia – a subsidiary of Italian energy company Enel – signed a binding agreement to purchase a 1GW solar and wind project in the state. Last June the state government announced a raft of new renewable energy targets, including 22GW of new solar and wind capacity by 2035.
The last year and half has witnessed a downturn in private investments for solar projects in Australia (premium access), but a recent contracts for difference (CfD) scheme announced by the government to underwrite 32GW of renewables generation and storage capacity could see the tide begin to turn.