Australian industry superannuation funds Aware Super and HESTA have backed a new renewable energy platform launched by Palisade Investment Partners.
The two super funds, along with the country’s green bank, the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC), will co-own Intera Renewables alongside Palisade’s Renewable Energy Fund (PREF) and Palisade’s Diversified Infrastructure Fund (PDIF).
PREF will hold around 50% stake in Intera and has a mandate to invest in both operating and development phase renewables assets in Australia. PDIF will co-invest alongside PREF for an additional exposure of around 7% in Intera.
Intera will hold five of Palisade’s operational renewable energy assets. The seed assets – which will have a combined installed capacity of around 1GW – comprise the Hallett 1 Wind Farm and Snowtown 2 Wind Farm assets in South Australia, Granville Harbour Wind Farm in Tasmania, Macarthur Wind Farm in Victoria and the Ross River Solar Farm in Queensland.
HESTA head of portfolio management, Jeff Brunton, said: “As a long-term investor, HESTA is looking to invest more in the transition to a low-carbon future, with a target of 10% of the total portfolio invested in renewables and other climate solutions by 2030.
“To achieve this target, we’re looking for ways to invest efficiently and at scale. The Intera model is one approach that’s helping us achieve this and we look forward to building this platform with our investment partners.”
Mark Hector, Aware Super senior portfolio manager – infrastructure, said the investment allowed the fund to deepen its A$2bn (€1.23bn) commitment to renewable energy and climate-solution opportunities.
“The addition of the Intera Renewables platform offers attractive benefits such as geographic diversification, reduced downside exposure and enhanced scale and operational efficiencies,” Hector said.
Roger Lloyd, CEO of Palisade, said the launch of Intera came at a time of unprecedented momentum within the energy sector.
“This momentum is being driven by a combination of the inevitable retirement of fossil fuel generation coupled with ambitious net-zero targets across the Australian economy, requiring significant investment in renewable-energy generation, storage and transmission,” said Lloyd.
Simon Parbery, executive director at Palisade, said: “Intera’s material scale, geographic diversification and combination of long-term investment-grade PPAs has provided a foundation for us to structure a portfolio financed with significant flexibility and debt capacity above a conventional single-asset-project financing structure.”
Palisade Integrated Management Services (PIMS) will provide operational management services to Intera.
Darren Sexton, PIMS’s CEO and general manager of renewables, said: “The ability to manage Intera as a single business rather than as individually-managed assets will allow for a greater suite of business and growth opportunities, as well as increased ability to optimise the performance of the existing portfolio through synergies and economies of scale.”
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