French renewable energy company Neoen has reached financial close for its A$370m ($269m) Kaban Green Power Hub project in Far North Queensland, Australia.
A syndicate of five lenders, namely BNP Paribas, HSBC, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), National Australia Bank (NAB) and the Norddeutsche Landesbank (NORD/LB), provided debt financing for the project.
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By GlobalDataNeoen Australia managing director Louis de Sambucy said: “We are delighted to announce that our Kaban project has reached this important financial milestone.
“I would like to thank CleanCo Queensland and our lenders for their trust in our ability to deliver high-quality projects.”
The project includes a 157MW wind farm located near Ravenshoe in the Atherton Tablelands, as well as an upgrade to a 320km transmission line on the North Queensland coastal circuit.
The wind farm is owned by Neoen and includes 28 wind turbines supplied by Vestas.
Vestas is also serving as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the project.
Works at the project site are currently underway and are expected to take 21 months to complete.
The project is expected to create more than 250 construction jobs in the region, with 50 workers already active on site.
Once completed, it is expected to generate 457GWh of clean energy a year.
The project has a 15-year capacity purchase agreement in place with Queensland’s publicly owned clean energy company CleanCo, which will buy the entirety of the renewable energy generated by the wind farm.
Neoen has also partnered with Powerlink Queensland for the upgrade of the transmission link between Cairns and Townsville.
Powerlink chief executive Paul Simshauser said: “The Kaban Green Power Hub is pivotal to unlocking Queensland’s first Renewable Energy Zone.
“It forms part of A$700m ($508m) worth of work Powerlink is delivering in North Queensland over the next five years.”
In February, Neoen reached financial close for the Victorian Big Battery project, a 300MW/450MWh energy storage facility in Australia.
