Enel and DIF invest $157 million in Australian solar project

The Italian power utility Enel announced that its subsidiary Enel Green Power and the Dutch Infrastructure Fund have jointly invested $157 million in the acquisition of a 137.5 MW unit of the 275 MW Bungala Solar PV project from Bungala Solar Holding Pty Ltd., a subsidiary of Australian developer Reach Solar Energy.

Enel added its unit, and DIF will finalize the acquisition of the second 137.5 MW unit of the project in the third quarter of this year. Overall, the two companies will invest $315 million in the entire project.

Enel said the project is currently the largest ready-to-build PV plant in Australia. The solar facility will be built near Port Augusta in South Australia and will be located on 800 hectares of land owned by Bungala Aboriginal Corporation (the land is a former ostrich farm). The project has a long-term PPA with local utility Origin Energy. Construction of the plant is scheduled to start in mid-2017, while the full project is expected to come online by the third quarter of 2018.

An application for the development approval of the single axis tracking solar PV power plant was submitted by start-up renewables outfit Reach Solar in September 2016. The plant will be connected to the existing 132 kV transmission grid managed by Electranet and, once fully developed, is expected to supply enough electricity to power around 125,000 homes.