Login
Acciona acquires 30-year lease for Gladstone solar farm
The renewable energy projects company has successfully bid to acquire one of Australia’s largest solar farms, based in regional Queensland.
Jerome Doraisamy
Firm: Herbert Smith Freehills (Acciona Energy Australia); Allens (Queensland State Government).
To continue reading the rest of this article, please log in.
Create free account to get unlimited news articles and more!
Deal: HSF has advised Acciona on its bid to acquire the 265MW(AC) Aldoga solar farm in Gladstone, Queensland, which it will develop, finance, construct and operate on a 30-year lease with the Queensland State Government.
Value: Undisclosed.
Area: Real estate.
Key players: The HSF team was led by partners Luke Simpson and Gerard Pike, with assistance from solicitor Nick Toth.
Deal significance: In a statement, HSF said the substantial scale of this project will contribute significantly to the Queensland Government’s target of achieving 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030 and will support up to 240 construction jobs, as well as 10 ongoing jobs upon completion.
At maximum capacity, the Aldoga project will deliver “the equivalent amount of energy needed to supply up to 122,000 households, which is around five times the number households in Gladstone”.
Mr Simpson said it was great to help Acciona with the latest of their numerous investments in large-scale renewable energy in Australia.
“This project is very significant for Queensland [and] the Gladstone region, and we look forward to helping Acciona to bring the Aldoga Solar Project to fruition,” he said.
“The project shows the Queensland Government is taking a different approach to creating employment opportunities in regional Queensland by auctioning a long-term land lease and access to grid infrastructures for large-scale solar on state-owned farm.”
