Enel acquires 1 GW wind and solar project in US$4.6m deal (Australia)

Enel Green Power Australia (part of the Italian energy group Enel) and the Japanese gas giant INPEX have signed an agreement with the Australian minerals company QEM to purchase the 1 GW Julia Creek Renewables project in north-west Queensland (Australia), in a deal worth more than AUD 7m (US$4.6m). In July 2023, QEM had announced that Enel Green Power had ben shortlisted alongside the Spanish energy giant Acciona Energia and Australia’s Origin Energy in a bid to acquire the Julia Creek project. The 1 GW project is one of Queensland’s largest hybrid wind and solar projects, with its 1 GW it expects to deliver energy to its vanadium mine and to connect to the AUD5bn (US$3.3bn) CopperString, a 1,100 km transmission line linking Mount Isa, Cloncurry and the North West Minerals Province to the National Electricity Grid.

Under the project sale agreement (PSA), Enel should pay AUD 3m (US$1.9m) to acquire wind and solar monitoring equipment, more than 18 months of data, and intellectual property regarding engineering, environmental, geotechnical, flood plain and other project studies. In addition, Enel also agreed to make two contingent and separate payments totalling AUD 4m (US$2.6m) upon the project’s key development milestones, and a 2% revenue-based royalty starting from its commercial operations date. The PPA also gives to QEM the option to take up a 10-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the supply of up to 25 MW firm capacity to supply its mine operations.