TagEnergy achieves financial close for 577 MW wind project

The project is the second stage of the 1.3 GW Golden Plains Wind Farm.

TagEnergy has achieved financial close for the second stage of the $2.7b (A$4b) Golden Plains Wind Farm, with a capacity of 577 megawatts (MW), marking the start of the project construction.

In a statement, TagEnergy said that the funding for the construction of the second stage, which will be composed of 93 wind turbine generators, was secured through non-recourse finance from a global group of clean energy transition lenders.

The lenders are composed of Australia’s green bank, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac, Denmark’s Export & Investment Fund, Japan’s Mizuho Bank, France’s Natixis Bank, the Bank of China and Germany’s Deutsche Bank.

Golden Plains Wind Farm’s 756 MW Stage 1 is also under construction, with 25% of turbines installed. Once both Stages are completed, the wind farm will have a total capacity of 1,333 MW, delivering 9% of Victoria’s energy in mid-2027.

“The supportive policy landscape created by the CIS (Capacity Investment Scheme) has given us confidence to start construction of Golden Plains Stage 2 now,” TagEnergy Managing Partner – Australia Andrew Riggs said.

“Commencing construction will maximise project delivery certainty and strengthen the competitiveness of our bid in the upcoming CIS auction. Our Stage 1 construction progress has been excellent and demonstrates our ability to deliver. These site teams, who will also construct Stage 2, really share our vision for a clean energy future,” he added.

TagEnergy signed a new Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract with global turbine supplier Vestas, appointed AusNet Services to lead the grid connection works and WestWind Energy as the asset manager to extend their initial partnerships.

$1 = A$1.50