Monford lands developer share deal as part of EPC agreement

Infrastructure specialist Monford Group has been named by West Australian developer Frontier Energy to deliver the solar and battery energy storage facility for stage one of its Waroona renewable energy project being developed in the state’s southwest.

As part of the deal, Monford has agreed to reduce the cash consideration payable under the fixed-price engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract by $5 million (USD 3.5 million) in exchange for newly issued shares in Frontier.

Ciaran Shannon, Chief Executive Officer of Perth-based Monford, said the company’s participation as a shareholder demonstrates its confidence in the long-term potential of project and in Frontier’s vision and growth strategy.

“We now look forward to progressing into delivery and safely delivering another high-quality renewable energy project,” he said.

The initial stage of the Waroona project, being developed on an 820-hectare site about 120 kilometres south of state capital Perth, is to include a 132 MW solar farm along with an 81.5 MW / 565 MWh DC-coupled battery energy storage system.

Construction works are expected to start on site next month with Frontier Executive Chairman Jamie Cullen noting Monford has already commenced detailed design and preparation works.

Monford’s scope of work extends through commissioning and delivery of a fully operating, grid-connected solar-plus-battery facility by late 2028.

Commencement of the EPC contract comes after Frontier announced last week it had obtained a “complete funding package” to finance the first stage of the estimated $327 million project.

Frontier said it had received credit-approved commitments for project finance debt facilities of up to approximately $280 million, including a construction facility of up to approximately $250 million, to support the development.

That came after Frontier announced last month it had raised $110 million in a share placement to support financing for the first 132 MW stage.

The initial stage is part of a multi-stage project, targeting up to 1 GW of solar generation capacity and 660 MW of battery energy storage by 2031.

Frontier said it already has development approval in place for a second stage that would include another 120 MW of solar and an additional 80 MW battery. This is to be followed by a third stage that will include 200 MW of solar generation capacity and a 140 MW battery, while a planned fourth stage will deliver approximately 560 MW of solar and up to 360 MW of battery energy storage.

The first stage of the project was among the winners of the federal government’s first WA Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) tender. Frontier has also been assigned capacity credits for stage one of the Waroona project as part of by the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Reserve Capacity Mechanism (RCM).