Partners Group has invested over A$180 million in equity on behalf of its clients to acquire and construct the Murra Warra wind farm (Murra Warra II) second phase in Australia.
Construction of Murra Warra II will begin this month and should be completed by mid-2022. The wind farm will consist of 38 GE Cypress 5.5MW turbines with a total nameplate capacity of 209MW, located about 30 kilometers north of Horsham in Victoria state, next to Murra Warra I.
When completed, Murra Warra II will produce ample renewable energy to power 150.000 Australian households and annually offset more than 468.000 tons of carbon emissions.
The project has already entered into a long-term power purchase agreement with Snowy Hydro, an electricity generator and retailer operated by the Australian Federal government, for 100 percent of the capacity.
The wind farm is also projected to generate over 400 jobs during construction in regional Victoria, encouraging increased investment in local businesses and services.
“We continue to believe the Australian renewable energy sector is benefiting from a transformative trend, with a significant amount of coal-fired generation retirements expected in the coming decade. Investing into Murra Warra II at the construction phase and successfully delivering the project through to its operational phase is consistent with both our ‘platform expansion’ and ‘building core’ strategies in infrastructure.
“It follows our 2018 acquisition of Murra Warra I, which completed construction in early 2020 and is now a fully de-risked and operational core infrastructure asset, with long-term offtake agreements in place.”
Andrew Kwok, managing director and head Private Infrastructure Asia, Partners Group.
“Murra Warra I and II add to our substantial portfolio of renewable energy assets across the Asia-Pacific region. Together, the two wind farms will have a combined capacity of over 400MW. In order to ensure such large-scale developments are completed on time and within budget, we believe it is important to have the right in-house expertise to identify and manage risks and to partner with counterparties who bring the right capabilities and experience to deliver a project.”
Nandan Balachandran, member of management, Private Infrastructure Asia.
