Palisade bundles 1 GW of assets into new renewables platform

March 29 (Renewables Now) - Australian infrastructure asset manager Palisade Investment Partners on Tuesday said it is launching a renewable energy platform, called Intera Renewables, which will bundle five of its operational renewable energy assets with a combined capacity of about 1 GW.

The company explained it is creating a renewable energy of scale at a time of “unprecedented” momentum in the energy sector, driven by the retirement of fossil fuel generation in combination with ambitious net zero targets across the Australian economy.

The new platform’s seed assets include four wind farms, Hallett 1 and Snowtown 2 in South Australia, Granville Harbour in Tasmania and Macarthur in Victoria, as well as the Ross River solar farm in Queensland.

Intera will pursue organic growth with a focus on developing and constructing new renewable energy projects, while seeking to provide stable investor returns backed by the operating portfolio.

Palisade has replaced the individual asset loans with a AUD-1.3-billion (USD 869m/EUR 802m) single portfolio financing facility secured against Intera’s combined portfolio. Taking advantage of Intera’s contracted and geographically diversified cashflows, the new portfolio facility achieves “superior financing terms and significantly enhanced flexibility to utilise debt funding for strategic purposes,” the company’s statement reads.

The new renewable energy platform will be owned by Palisade’s Renewable Energy Fund (PREF), which will have a stake of about 50%, Palisade’s Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF), Palisade direct investment clients, HESTA and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), and Aware Super as a co-investor in Intera.

The portfolio financing facility was obtained from Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Bank of China, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, ING Bank (Australia) Ltd, Mizuho Bank Ltd, MUFG Bank Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and Westpac Banking Corp.

(AUD 1 = USD 0.668/EUR 0.617)