California-based investment firm Palisade Investment Partners (Palisade) and Aware Super Pty, a trustee of Australian superannuation fund Aware Super, are acquiring a 49% stake in China-based wind turbine maker Goldwind’s ‘Stockyard Hill Wind Farm’ project in Australia’s Victoria state.

Deemed to be the largest wind farm in Australia’s National Electricity Market, the 528 MW project produces sufficient clean energy to power around 425,000 households in the region annually.

Palisade’s Diversified Infrastructure Fund will co-invest in the acquisition with Aware Super through a special purpose vehicle.

The construction of the Stockyard Hill wind project was completed in September this year and it uses 149 turbines made by Goldwind.

Goldwind will be responsible for the project’s operation and maintenance under a long-term agreement.

Palisade confirmed that all the electricity and large-scale generation certificates are sold under a long-term offtake agreement with Sydney-headquartered power and gas trader Origin Energy.

Palisade Executive Director James Hann said, “This acquisition represents a continuation of our strategy to invest across the spectrum of renewable energy assets including high quality greenfield and brownfield projects. Stockyard Hill provides our investors with exposure to long-term contracted cashflows and represents further diversification across our growing portfolio of renewable energy investments.”

Aware Super’s Senior Portfolio Manager Mark Hector said, “We believe Stockyard Hill Wind Farm will provide a valuable, new source of strong risk-adjusted returns for our members’ $1 billion renewable energy portfolio. It also reaffirms our investment strategy to actively pursue those assets we believe will benefit from the transition to a lower carbon future.”

In September this year, Goldwind secured a deal with Masdar, an Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, to supply 111 units of GW155-4.5 MW turbines to the Zarafshan wind farm in the Navoi region of Central Uzbekistan.

In December 2021, Palisade Investment Partners announced the refinancing of a 5-year-debt facility worth $125 million, for the 148 MW Ross River solar project in Queensland’s Townsville.