Octopus Australia, a subsidiary of the UK-based Octopus Group, has acquired 28,000 hectares (ha) of land in the Australian state of New South Wales to develop the 1GW Merino wind farm.
The newly acquired land is situated near the town of Deniliquin in the Riverina region, adjacent to the 400MW Saltbush wind farm, which is also under Octopus’s ownership.
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This acquisition brings Octopus’s total landholdings in the Southwest NSW Renewable Energy Zone (SW-NSW REZ) to 35,000ha.
The land will facilitate the generation of 1.5GW of power, combining the ongoing development of the 400MW Saltbush wind farm with the A$3.5bn ($2.32bn) Merino wind farm.
The development will also be supported by large-scale solar and battery storage, providing a stable source of renewable energy for the region.
The additional land offers the possibility of connection to vital transmission lines, which could be advantageous for Octopus in future access rights tenders.
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By GlobalDataOctopus Australia co-managing director Darren Brown stated: “The acquisition marks a major milestone in Octopus Australia’s strategy to build a portfolio of energy assets that model what a future clean energy generation base will look like in Australia.
“These cornerstone wind assets supplemented with Octopus’ storage and solar developments across the National Electricity Market (NEM), are designed to be an integrated, multi-technology portfolio that can offer truly unique and differentiated power purchase agreement products to energy customers and sustainable value to investors.”
Octopus’s operating and development portfolio now exceeds A$11bn ($7.32bn).
Its portfolio includes the Fulham solar farm and battery and the Blind Creek solar farm and battery, both commencing construction in the second half of 2024.
In December 2023, Octopus Group, the parent company of Octopus Australia, secured $800m in a funding round aimed at accelerating its global renewable energy initiatives.
Participants in the funding round included Origin Energy, Tokyo Gas, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Generation Investment Management, valuing the company at $7.8bn, a 60% increase from its valuation in December 2021.
