The Australian arm of London-headquartered investment firm Foresight Group has acquired renewable energy development platform New Zealand Clean Energy (NZCE) via its Asia-Pacific energy transition strategy, the Australian Renewable Infrastructure Fund (ARIF).
With an expected total commitment to exceed $500 million (USD 356 million), the funds will aid development and construction during 2026 and 2027 of NZCE’s three late-stage solar projects that total approximately 300 MW.
The ready-to-build solar projects are part of a 2 GW+ solar and battery energy storage system (BESS) NZCE development pipeline across approximately fifteen sites.
Image: Foresight Group
Initial agrivoltaic and BESS projects on the North Island include the 89 MW Masterton and 72 MW Dannevirke projects, located northeast of Wellington by approximately 100 and 200 kilometres, respectively.
The third project on the South Island located approximately 50 kilometres west of Christchurch is the 106 MW Darfield solar and BESS.
A Foresight statemen said the acquisition expands ARIF’s footprint and set of origination opportunities beyond existing wind, hydro and solar assets across the National Electricity Market (NEM) in the east coast of Australia and the South West Interconnected System (SWIS) in Western Australia (WA).
Image: Foresight Group
NZCE Chief Executive Officer Harry Simpson said NZCE has the ambition of building a serious pipeline of solar and storage projects across New Zealand.
“Over the past several years we’ve focused on identifying the right sites and progressing projects through development,” Simpson said.
“Partnering with Foresight allows us to move into the next stage and take advanced projects into construction while continuing to expand the platform.”
ARIF Foresight Executive Director and ARIF Portfolio Manager Daniel Beaver said New Zealand has an exceptional renewable resource base and a supportive policy environment.
“By combining our capital and operational expertise with NZCE’s local knowledge, development expertise and project pipeline, we are well positioned to accelerate the delivery of new renewable energy capacity,” Beaver said.
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