Antinuclear

General Electric prepared to spend $billions on renewable energy in Australia

GE ready to spend billions on renewable energy  THE AUSTRALIAN,  Damon Kitney, 26 June 15 

The local chief executive of global conglomerate GE says its head office has given the green light for the company to pursue potentially billions of dollars of new investments in renewable energy in Australia after bankrolling the nation’s third-biggest wind farm in southwest Victoria.

GE, in partnership with local firms Renewable Energy Systems and Downer, has secured a major contract for the supply of 75 wind turbines to the 240MW Ararat Wind Farm, a $450 million project financed by shareholders RES, GE, Switzerland-based investment manager Partners Group and Canadian pension group OPTrust.

The project was secured by the passage through parliament on Tuesday of a new renewable energy target of 33,000 ­gigawatt hours of electricity from large-scale renewable energy projects by 2020.

“We are putting $125m of equity into the deal and we would not have done that without the policy certainty we now have,” said Geoff Culbert, president and CEO, GE Australia, New Zealand and PNG.

He said GE wanted to be involved in projects that produced as much of the 33,000 gigawatt hours as possible, noting they would be worth “billions” of dollars.

“We see GE playing an active role in that build-out. We are very heavily focused on trying to build a pipeline of wind deals in Australia and that is recognised right back to head office,” he said.

“We have a pipeline of deals that we have been looking at but we haven’t been able to progress. Now we have certainty we have a pipeline we are going to aggressively pursue. Australia is a really attractive place to invest for GE and we have the support from headquarters to invest more here.”

Two years ago, GE was part of a consortium that received a contract to supply wind turbines for the 55MW Mumbida wind farm in Western Australia, the first use of GE wind turbines in Australia. But political uncertainty about the RET target put further investment by the group under a cloud.

OPTrust managing director Stan Kolenc said the breaking of the political deadlock over the renewable energy target this week would open the floodgates to international investors in the Australian renewables industry………

Mr Culbert declined to comment on Mr Abbott’s views, instead noting that he was optimistic about the future. There are now more than 60 wind projects across the nation.

“There is trillions of dollars sitting on the sidelines globally looking for a place to invest. When you create a market with policy certainty, you unlock that investment,” Mr Culbert said.

The Ararat project is also being supported by a power purchase agreement with the ACT government which guarantees the purchase of about 40 per cent of the energy produced at the site http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/ge-ready-to-spend-billions-on-renewable-energy/story-e6frg8zx-1227415347623

June 27, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL, energy