Renewable energy and battery storage developer Maoneng Group has partnered with a Hong Kong-baed real estate fund manager to secure finance and accelerate some $2 billion of big battery and utility scale solar projects in Australia.
The deal with Gaw Capital Partners – described as a private equity firm specialising in real estate and “high barrier to entry” markets – will create a new joint venture company, majority owned by Gaw, to help secure equity and debt financing for 1.9GW of big battery and solar projects in Victoria, NSW and South Australia.
The first project to be rolled out is the 240MW, two hour storage (480MWh) Mornington battery in Victoria, which has already received development and connection approvals, and is expected to start construction early next year.
Other projects include the 225MW/450MWh Gould battery project just north of Adelaide in South Australia, which has also gained development approval.
Maoneng also another three battery projects in NSW linked with its agreement to supply AGL with up to 400MWh of storage – at Tamworth, Lismore and Armidale – as well as the recently announced Merriwa hub, which proposes up to 550MW of solar and 1600MWh of battery storage in the Upper Hunter region of NSW.
The deal with Gaw appears to be a significant step forward for Maoneng, which has seen its Mugga Lane solar farm in the ACT put in the hands of receivers, and whose small stake in the 200MW Sunraysia solar project suffered from project delays and ongoing disputes over claims for liquidated damages.
