WIRTGEN INVEST, advised by WIRSOL Energy and WiNRG, acquires Glenrowan West Solar Farm, scheduled to add 149MWp of renewable energy to the Victorian Grid in Q1 2021
Today German Investment company, WIRTGEN INVEST announce the successful acquisition and imminent start of construction of their first investment in Australia, the Glenrowan West Solar Farm. Independently funded, the project has an installed capacity of 149-megawatt peak (MWp) – positioning the Solar Farm as one of the largest renewable energy projects in Victoria.
WIRTGEN INVEST has signed the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) Contract with EPC Contractor, Signal Energy Australia Pty Ltd. Construction is scheduled to commence in February 2020 at the site located between Benalla and Wangaratta, 11km south-west of the town of Glenrowan. In July 2019, WIRTGEN INVEST had acquired the project rights of the Glenrowan West Solar Project from Overland Sun Farming, the leading developer of large-scale solar projects in the Australian market.
WIRTGEN INVEST has been advised by WIRSOL Energy Pty Ltd, the Australian arm of the WIRCON Group, and by German-based WiNRG in the acquisition and EPC process. WIRSOL Energy and WiNRG will continue to work on the project by providing project management services during construction, commissioning and ultimately operation of the Solar Farm. The Glenrowan West Solar Farm is the sixth project that WIRSOL Energy will deliver to the Australian market, taking its portfolio under management to 546MWp.
WIRTGEN INVEST, WIRSOL Energy and WiNRG have a commitment to assist in meeting the ever-growing worldwide demands for clean, sustainable power across households and businesses, whilst continuing to contribute more specifically towards Victoria’s Renewable Energy Target of 50% by 2030. Once the project reaches commercial operation in Q2 2021, the Victorian market will benefit from an additional 149MWp of renewable capacity and the Solar Farm will provide enough energy to power the equivalent of 41,000 households with green electricity, whilst preventing the emissions of approximately 310,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Jürgen and Stefan Wirtgen, Directors of WIRTGEN INVEST Holding GmbH: “WIRTGEN INVEST is proud of its first investment in Australia via its 100% owned subsidiary Glenrowan Sun Farm Pty. Ltd. We are looking forward to good cooperation with the local community and to making Glenrowan West Sun Farm shine.”
Andy Scullion, Director of WIRSOL Energy: “We are delighted to be leading the delivery of Wirtgen’s first venture into the Australian market and look forward to continuing our presence within the local community. This is a significant milestone for us at WIRSOL Energy, at almost 150MW this will be our largest Solar Farm to date, taking our portfolio under management to over 500MW and another great step forward for the decarbonisation of Australia.”
Robbin Russell, General Manager of Signal Energy: “We are excited about the opportunity to work with such a great team and on such an important project. We look forward to working in and becoming a partner with the local community.”
More information
About WIRTGEN INVEST
WIRTGEN INVEST is a young private family office from Germany, which started operating at the end of 2017. The family office invests diversely, with renewable energy being one of its key and growing fields of activity. WIRTGEN INVEST is the investor and 100% owner of Glenrowan Sun Farm Pty. Ltd. Besides the photovoltaic plant in Glenrowan, WIRTGEN INVEST currently builds solar parks spread over six locations in Portugal and a wind park in Poland. A wind park in Sweden has been completed early 2019.
Our investment approach is conservative and has the goal to secure the value also for future generations. For more information about the family office and its investment philosophy, please see our family office homepage at https://www.wirtgen-invest.de/en/family-office/
About WIRSOL Energy
WIRSOL Energy has been a major player in the large-scale renewable energy market since its creation in 2013. Starting in Germany as a subsidiary of the WIRCON Group, the company has grown to develop, construct and operate integrated renewable energy systems, including utility scale solar PV projects across Europe and now as one of the market leaders in Australia with a large portfolio of renewable energy and storage projects across VIC and QLD.
WIRSOL Energy has excelled due to its highly developed skill set, particularly in securing high quality sites; facilitating network connection, securing off-take agreements and establishing development financing with a commitment to produce clean green electricity for Australian electricity consumers.
About WiNRG
WiNRG is a company in the renewable energy sector, based in Hamburg and manages large scale projects and transactions of wind energy, photovoltaic and hydro power plants worldwide for its investors. This includes own project development as well as the search for attractive international project offers and the evaluation of these offers. In case of a positive investment decision, WiNRG coordinates the Due Diligence, the contract negotiations, the closing and the installation of the plants. In addition, WiNRG concludes long-term service agreements with the owner of the plants.
In total, eleven employees currently look after ten photovoltaic and two wind parks with a total installed power of approx. 350 megawatts at project locations in the Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland, Portugal and Australia. For more Information visit www.winrg.de
About Signal Energy
Signal Energy Australia Pty Ltd is a leading full-service design/build contractor providing Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) services for utility-scale renewable energy projects. Signal Energy Australia is subsidiary of Signal Energy, LLC headquartered in Chattanooga, Tennessee USA and EMJ Corporation. Signal Energy Australia opened January 2018 and is headquartered in Sydney. For more information visit www.signalenergy.com/
About Overland Sun Farming
Overland Sun Farming is an Australian owned and operated developer of large-scale grid connected solar projects. Overland focuses on the origination and development of solar PV projects from greenfield site selection through to shovel ready encompassing land, planning, grid analysis, connection approvals and project agreements.
For all media enquiries please contact Holly Elvy via holly.elvy@wirsol.com.au .
