Equis Energy hits financial close on $200m Tailem Solar project in South Australia

Construction of the 127MW project will start this month.

Equis Energy has achieved financial close on its 127MW Tailem Bend Solar Project (Tailem Solar) in South Australia, 100km south-east of Adelaide. Construction is due to commence in February 2018 and the $200m project is expected to begin delivering power to the grid in Q1 2019.

Equis has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Snowy Hydro Limited (Snowy Hydro) under which Snowy Hydro will purchase 100% of the power from Tailem Solar for at least 22 years. Snowy Hydro is a leading integrated energy business in Australia that owns and operates 5,500 MW of generation capacity across Australia, including the 4,100 MW Snowy Mountains hydro-electric scheme.

Tailem Solar will be one of the lowest cost solar projects in Australia and will create hundreds of jobs, training opportunities and economic growth within Tailem Bend and surrounding local communities. Tailem Solar will supply power equivalent to the annual needs of 41,600 homes and an area of the project site will be reserved to accommodate a future battery installation with storage of up to 100 MWh. Tailem Solar will save over 102,000 tonnes of CO2 annually compared to the same generation from South Australia’s existing power plants.

Equis is also developing Tailem Bend 2, a 111 MW solar project adjacent to Tailem Solar. Tailem Bend 2 will bring down power prices further by leveraging the existing infrastructure of Tailem Solar. Tailem Bend 2 is expected to commence construction in late 2018.

The two Tailem Bend solar projects will have a combined generation output of approximately 413,000 megawatt hours per year (MWh/year), supplying power equivalent to the annual needs of 82,600 homes and saving over 200,000 tonnes of CO2 annually compared to the same generation from South Australia’s existing power plants.