Denham Capital invests $75m to join Australian wind power JV

The joint venture will focus on the development and financing of projects which include a 100 megawatt venture in New South Wales, a 250 MW project in South Australia and a 240 MW development in Tasmania.

Enersis, National Power and Kato have been developing these projects together since 2009. Denham said in a statement that its commitment will accelerate the development of these projects, with the goal of achieving financial closing on several phases in the second half of 2013 or in 2014, and having the first project operational in 2015.

The projects have a total cost of about $800 million to be met with about 75 percent debt, Denham Managing Partner Scott Mackin told Bloomberg.

Michael Toke has been appointed managing director of OneWind Australia. He was CEO of Cannon Power Group, a California-based wind energy developer.

Denham Capital's $7.3 billion fund is focused on mining and energy, with portfolio companies in the Philippines, Brazil, South Africa, Israel and the US.

The PE firm's Australian investment comes as the cost of producing power from new wind turbines is falling, and fossil-fuel electricity becomes more expensive. "Wind energy is now cheaper than new build fossil-fuel generation in Australia," said Mackin.

Australia has set a Renewable Energy Target to get 20% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2020. As part of this effort, the government has encouraged the deployment of large-scale renewable energy projects such as wind farms.

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• Topics
• Australasia
• Cleantech
• Expansion
• Australia
• energy
• Growth capital