Page 10 - AsiaElec Week 24

AsiaElec RENEWABLES AsiaElec

Iberdrola makes highest bid

for Australia’s Infigen

AUSTRALIA SPAIN’S Iberdrola has made a bid to buy Aus- €10bn ($11bn) in 2020 in new acquisitions and
tralian wind developer Infigen for A$828m existing wind projects.
($569m) in a friendly takeover deal, edging out The deal has not been completed and rival
a rival bid from Philippines-based UAC Energy bids may emerge before any transaction is
Holdings. finalised.
The price, equivalent to A$0.86 ($0.95) per Australia’s renewables market has been under
share for Australia’s largest green generator, beat pressure lately, with low wholesale electricity
a rival bid of A$0.80 from UAC Energy Holdings, prices and falling renewable energy certificate
which is owned by Ayala Corp. prices.
Infigen was previously known as Babcock & Investment dipped in 2019 as the federal gov-
Brown Wind Partners and emerged from Bab- ernment’s programme of incentives for large-
cock & Brown Group. scale renewables projects expired, and Canberra
Iberdrola is already building a 320-MW has not put firm plans in place to replace it.
wind and solar hybrid project in South Australia Infigen and other green operators in Australia
through a A$500mn ($345mn) investment. It have faced problems in connecting their wind
also owns 350 MW of wind and solar projects in and solar projects to the country’s fragmented
Queensland and South Australia. national grid, and its share price has fallen in
It currently operates 18 GW of wind capacity recent months.
worldwide. Iberdrola’s bid of A$0.86 per is 46% more than
“The acquisition of Infigen is a unique oppor- Infigen’s closing price on June 2, the day before
tunity for the Iberdrola group to consolidate its UAC landed its unexpected bid.
presence in the attractive Australian renewable Infigen currently operates seven wind farms
energy market through a friendly transaction,” in Australia, but it has had to put its pipeline of
Iberdrola said in a statement. new projects on hold in a bid to save money.
“The offer from Iberdrola follows an extended It also owns a gas peaking plant in New South
period of engagement with Infigen regarding Wales and a 25-MW big battery at Lake Bonney
potential co-operation or a control transaction,” in South Australia.
Infigen said. Any deal would have to be approved by Aus-
The Spanish-owned company, which is now tralia’s Foreign Investment Review Board.™
the world’s largest wind operator, aims to invest

Goldwind signs 50MW Pakistan turbine deal

PAKISTAN ACT Wind, a major developer of wind energy in average availability of over 99% in the long term.
Pakistan, has signed a contract with China’s Xin- Goldwind has so far supplied turbines to
jiang Goldwind Science Technology to acquire six wind farms in Pakistan. Including the ACT
25 2.5-MW turbines for the 50-MW Phase II of Phase II order, the company aims to supply 150
the ACT project. MW of turbines by 2020, while it has an order
The deal builds on Goldwind’s 30-MW deal book of 477 MW in Pakistan.
in 2016 to supply its turbines to ACT Wind for Goldwind is the world’s third-largest manu-
Phase I of the ACT project. facturer of wind turbines, accounting for 13.2%
ACT Wind is jointly owned and operated by of the global market of 63 GW in 2019, according
three Pakistani industrial groups: Tapal Group, to the Global Wind Energy Council’s (GWEC)
Akhtar Group and Ismail Industries. The Phase Supply Side Analysis 2019 report.
I wind farm was opened in 2016. Its installations grew by 19% in 2019 thanks
Phase II is set to be located in Jhimpir, known to an installation rush in the Chinese market, the
as “the pathway of wind”, in Sindh Province. report said.
Goldwind was the first Chinese wind turbine The project forms part of the China-Pakistan
producer to enter into the Pakistani market in Economic Corridor (CPEC), itself part of Bei-
2013. It has designed a customised high-tem- jing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).™
perature wind turbine for Pakistan that boasts

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 24 17•June•2020