Canadian Solar acquires 30 MW SA solar project

Australian renewables developer Tetris Energy has confirmed that its 30 MW Mannum Solar Farm in South Australia has been acquired by module manufacturing heavyweight Canadian Solar. 

Construction of the first 5 MW stage, scheduled to commence this month, will be supported by revenues from a PPA with Flow Power and a separate LGCs agreement. The second 25 MW stage will follow later in 2019, according to Tetris.

Based on the PPA, the commercial electricity retailer will supply a number of the Mid-Murray region agribusinesses, including a large-scale dairy, a piggery, vegetable cool rooms, as well as one of the nation’s largest wine producers, Pernod Ricard Winemakers.

The winemaker announced its decision to source 100% of its electricity from renewables by mid-2019 last year. To achieve this, it will rely on the output of a 2.8 MW PV array installed at its Barossa Valley winery, and source the remainder of its power from renewable energy, under a Virtual Generation Agreement with Flow Power.

Flow Power says it will look to expand its competitive retail offering on the back of the Mannum Solar Farm PPA.

“We’re pleased to be working alongside Tetris Energy and Canadian Solar to deliver more effective, low-cost and renewable energy solutions to businesses in the Mid-Murray region and beyond,” said Matthew van der Linden, Managing Director of Flow Power. 

Overall, the retailer is growing its portfolio of renewable generation for its corporate clients against the backdrop of the growing appetite for clean energy among Australian business.

In one of its latest PPA deals, Flow Power contracted 69 MW of the output of the 120 MW Bomen Solar Farm in New South Wales to power one of the nation’s largest vineyard owners and the first wine producer to sign a large-scale hybrid renewable corporate PPA, Australian Vintage, and a major snack food manufacturer, Snack Brands.

On the back of the new acquisition deal, Canadian Solar has further expanded its Australian presence, following last year’s majority acquisition of a pipeline of PV power plants worth some 1.14 GW.

For Tetris Energy, the Mannum Solar Farm acquisition marks an important milestone for their first renewable energy project in South Australia. The company says it now looks forward to building out their SA renewable energy and social infrastructure pipeline over the course of 2019.

As we reported earlier today, Tetris Energy is also developing two 10 MW solar farms at Batchelor and Manton Dam, which will catapult the Northern Territory’s renewable energy share to 10%  by the year’s end.