CEFC invests to construct more storage and wind with Neoen in South Australia

6 February 2024

The CEFC is ramping up support for key assets in Australia’s clean energy transition, committing $99 million* to the second part of Neoen Goyder South Stage 1 Wind Farm and the Blyth Battery in South Australia. The investment will support the construction of 203 MW of renewable energy generation and 238.5MW / 477MWh of battery storage.

Goyder South Stage 1 forms part of the Neoen flagship Goyder Renewables Zone, 150 kms north of Adelaide. Once complete, the site will be the largest wind asset, and one of the most competitive in Neoen’s global portfolio, boasting 76 wind turbines.

Goyder South Stage 1, along with the nearby Blyth Battery, will provide firm green power to BHP’s Olympic Dam, helping decarbonise one of the world’s largest critical mineral mines through a renewable energy baseload contract that will meet about half its electricity needs.  

This investment builds on our long-standing support for the enabling technologies that will transform the grid and deliver clean energy to households and businesses around Australia.

Ian Learmonth

CEFC CEO

Under the innovative Olympic Dam contract, Neoen will integrate output from the second tranche of Goyder South Stage 1, firming the intermittent wind energy with the storage capacity of the Blyth Battery and its energy management expertise.

There are currently more than 400 construction workers at Goyder South and 40 at Blyth Battery, with a further 15 permanent positions expected during operation. The project will support Australian manufacturing, with the installation of wind turbine anchor cages manufactured in Sydney by Allthread Industries using Australian steel. The steel includes about 50 per cent recycled material.

Neoen, one of the world’s leading independent producers of exclusively renewable energy, will own and operate the development. 

The CEFC investment is alongside KfW IPEX-Bank, Westpac, ING and Mizuho in a further demonstration of the impact of CEFC capital in attracting international finance to the development of Australian clean energy assets.  

CEFC CEO Ian Learmonth said: “This investment builds on our long-standing support for the enabling technologies that will transform the grid and deliver clean energy to households and businesses around Australia. By developing additional renewable energy generation alongside the firming and storage capacity of large-scale batteries, we can continue to decarbonise the grid while ensuring stability.

“The challenge of reducing emissions across the economy starts with the energy sector. The offtake agreement with BHP demonstrates how reducing energy emissions accelerates decarbonisation across the economy. This innovative solution to provide firmed green energy at Olympic Dam enables a significant energy user to progress its net zero goals while producing a critical mineral like copper more sustainably.” 

Neoen CEO, Louis de Sambucy said: “We are delighted to announce the joint financing of the second tranche of Goyder South Stage 1 alongside Blyth Battery and we sincerely thank the lender group for their trust and commitment. We are looking forward to powering BHP’s Olympic Dam mine with baseload renewable energy.”

CEFC CIO for Renewables and Sustainable Finance, Monique Miller said: “The strong working relationship between the CEFC and Neoen has now helped finance four large scale batteries and we are pleased to add a wind farm to our portfolio of Neoen developments. The Blyth Battery is one of eight grid scale battery projects which were successful under ARENA’s Large Scale Battery Storage Funding Round, which will also support Neoen to retrofit the Victorian Big Battery that CEFC supported in 2020 to provide grid forming inverter technology.”

“The Blyth Battery is the fourth Neoen large scale battery that the CEFC has financed, following investments in the Victorian Big Battery, the Capital Battery in the ACT and the expansion of the Hornsdale Power Reserve, also in SA. It is the fifth large scale battery financed by the CEFC and takes lifetime commitments in this critical enabling technology to more than $390 million, complementing our extensive renewable energy portfolio.” 

^{*The CEFC commitment announced at contractual close was $99 million, but was subsequently slightly adjusted at financial close to $102.4 million.}