AGL to buy Aussie renewables firms with 8.1-GW combined pipeline

Australian utility AGL Energy Ltd (ASX:AGL) has agreed to buy two domestic developers of solar and battery storage projects in a AUD-250-million (USD 166m/EUR 150.9m) deal that will expand its development pipeline to over 14 GW.

The binding agreement concerns the acquisition of battery storage specialist Firm Power Pty Ltd and solar farm developer Terrain Solar, AGL said in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

The arrangement will boost AGL’s development pipeline by 8.1 GW by bringing 21 projects undertaken by Firm Power and six schemes being developed by Terrain Solar. Specifically, 6.1 GW of battery energy storage projects located across five states will join AGL’s platform, along with 1.8 GW of photovoltaic (PV) schemes and a 250-MW onshore wind project in New South Wales.

“We believe this high-quality development pipeline presents strong optionality for AGL, focusing on firming capacity which will be required to firm new renewable generation for our customer base and portfolio as thermal baseload generation exits the NEM,” said AGL’s Managing Director and CEO, Damien Nicks.

Provided that the deal goes through, AGL will finance it with its own cash resources. The utility expects the transaction to wrap up this year, once all customary conditions precedent have been met.

(AUD 1.0 = USD 0.664/EUR 0.604)

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