Fortescue Metals’ Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest has made his biggest play yet in renewables with a multi-billion-dollar deal that will see his Squadron Energy subsidiary buying clean energy developer CWP Renewables.
The deal is estimated to be worth more than $4 billion and positions Forrest and his family interests to be major players in wind energy and battery storage in Australia, alongside its developing interests in hydrogen.
Tech billionaire Michael Cannon-Brookes is another Australian who has seen the light and charging into renewables via the control of struggling fossil fuel generator AGL Energy.
Squadron, which is part of the Forrest family’s Tattarang Group, beat rival bids from Spanish utilities giant Iberdrola and Tilt Renewables, which is partly owned by AGL.
Other interested parties had also included Origin Energy (which is facing a takeover offer of its own) and a Canadian pension fund.
The purchase of CWP follows Squadron’s previous purchase of renewable energy developer Windlab, the start of construction of the $3 billion Clarke Creek wind, solar and battery farm in Queensland and the unveiling on plans for a 10-Gigawatt renewable hub in north Queensland.
CWP, which was owned by Swiss private equity firm Partners Group, has 1.1 gigawatts of wind farms operating or in late-stage construction in Victoria and NSW, including Sapphire Wind Farm in NSW, which has 75 turbines generating up to 270 megawatts, Murra Warra wind farms with a combined 435 megawatts, and Crudine Ridge, which has 37 wind turbines and generates 142 megawatts.
CWP has a further 5.5 gigawatts of projects in development Australia-wide, including two big battery farms.
Forrest on Wednesday said Squadron was now “superbly positioned” to ensure Australia could accelerate the development of renewable energy, and create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, at the scale and pace that the economy needed.
“Squadron is proud to bring a very significant portion of Australia’s renewable energy assets home to local ownership,” Forrest said. “It means that Squadron has the renewable energy critical mass to help Australia step beyond fossil fuels.”
The takeover of CWP brings Squadron’s renewable energy portfolio to 2.5 gigawatts and its development pipeline to 20 gigawatts.
Squadron Energy’s also has a stake in the Sun Cable underwater transmission line to provide solar power from Australia to Singapore (a project promoted by Michael Cannon-Brookes), and the Port Kembla Energy Terminal, which could see NSW for the first time to import cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and eventually transition to green hydrogen.
Fortescue shares closed at a six-month high of $21.17 on Wednesday because iron ore prices remain above $US108 a tonne for 62% fe fines delivered to Northern China, and China’s slow re-opening from its Covid lockdowns.
