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Conergy Unit Plans $2.7 Billion Australian Wind Farms
A unit of Conergy AG, the German solar power company, said it plans three wind farms in Australia estimated to cost as much as $2.7 billion that will proceed if the government does more to spur clean energy investment.
The wind power developments in New South Wales state proposed by Conergy’s Epuron Pty unit depend on the expansion of Australia’s renewable energy target and the introduction of a price on carbon emissions, Andrew Durran, Epuron’s executive director in Sydney, said today in a phone interview.
“There is significant uncertainty in this market and that is going to continue,” he said. “There have been too many changes at the state and federal level over more than a decade, and people funding these projects don’t forget that.”
Australia, the world’s biggest coal exporter, has set a target of generating 20 percent of its power from renewable energy by 2020. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has said lawmakers must decide this year on a way to impose a cost on burning fossil fuels such as coal to tackle climate change.
The Australian climate change committee chaired by the prime minister continues to discuss options for pricing carbon and “therefore no agreed position can be released at this stage,” according to a statement today on the group’s website. A final accord may be reached in the “coming months,” it said.
Energy producers may invest A$20 billion ($20 billion) in wind ventures in Australia to move toward that target if they have confidence the projects will be profitable, Durran said.
‘Cautiously Optimistic’
The Liverpool Range project in the Hunter Valley region of the state would have as many as 550 turbines and cost between A$1 billion and A$2 billion, Durran said. The company submitted an application with the state earlier this month, he said.
The Rye Park wind farm, proposed for a site about 250 kilometers (155 miles) southwest of Sydney, is estimated to cost A$300 million, documents filed with the state last month show. The venture would have as many as 110 wind turbines.
The White Rock wind farm 20 kilometers west of Glen Innes is estimated to cost A$350 million, according to state filings. The project may have 119 turbines, a February filing on the Australian environment department’s website shows.
The three projects would have a combined capacity of as much as 2,000 megawatts, Durran said. Epuron targets New South Wales approval in the middle of this year for the White Rock farm and clearance for the others in 2012 or 2013, he said.
“We’re cautiously optimistic” about the Australian renewable energy market, Durran said. The company won’t seek financing for the wind farms until it has government approvals and is more certain of government policy, he said.
“If that doesn’t change, we’re not going to see new investment,” he said. “That’s the reality. Whoever is investing has to feel confident they can get that money back out again, and at the moment that confidence is not there.”
To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney jpaton4@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at aprakash1@bloomberg.net.
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