Western Australia (WA) clean energy developer Frontier Energy has been granted $215 million (USD 141.6 million) in debt finance from infrastructure fund manager Infradebt for Stage One of its Waroona Renewable Energy Project (WREP).
Located 120 kilometres south of Perth, the Stage One WREP will be a 120 MW solar farm with an integrated four-hour 80 MW / 360 MWh DC-coupled battery energy storage system (BESS).
Frontier Energy Chief Executive Officer Adam Kiley said the company received multiple credit endorsed proposals as part of the debt financing process from several major financial institutions.
“However, the Infradebt offer was superior, with a highly attractive tenor and interest rate, whilst also providing greater flexibility compared to alternatives. Infradebt’s proposal is also for 100% of the debt financing, meaning the Company will only deal with a single party compared to a syndicate solution,” Kiley said.
Key terms include a debt tenor of 17 years, including two years of construction, and a long-term partnership for Infradebt to finance further battery projects developed by Frontier, including Stage Two of the WREP.
The Stage One definitive feasibility study (DFS) released in February 2024, estimated the total capital cost for Stage One at $304 million.
The majority of the project finance will be funded by Infradebt’s energy transition fund, which is dedicated to financing grid-scale batteries.
WREP is also located 0.5 kilometres from the Landwehr Terminal, a major connection point to the South West Interconnected System (SWIS), and Frontier has approvals in place for connection to the SWIS.
Frontier says in its first year the Stage One WREP’s solar energy generation has the potential for 258 GWh, with 119 GWh sold through the battery during peak periods, and 115 GWh discharged from solar generation into the WA Wholesale Electricity Market (WEM).
Frontier aims for the WREP to be a major renewable energy hub, incorporating multiple initiatives including batteries and green hydrogen, with full renewable energy potential of more than 1 GW based on connection capacity.
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