BayWa acquires Australian portfolio

AUSTRALIA: Developer BayWa has acquired the business and pipeline of Future Energy, its first investment in the Australian wind sector.

by Craig Richard 12 October 2017

Future Energy's Hepburn site (above) was Australia’s first community-owned wind farm

Future Energy, established in 2004, owns eight projects in Victoria state for a total capacity of 66.6MW.

Only 10.3MW of this total is online — the 6.2MW and 4.1MW Wind sites — while its largest wind farm, the 28MW Winchelsea project, is currently on hold. The Hepburn site was .

Its new owner BayWa, meanwhile, owns projects in Sweden, the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and now Australia.

BayWa would employ Future’s existing employees as well as hire new recruits, the larger developer said.

It expects to export electricity from "the first few wind projects" by the end of next year and would consider acquiring, developing and commissioning further sites, it added.

"The Future Energy acquisition provides an important platform for BayWa’s future growth and we are very pleased to welcome the team on board," said Matthias Taft, a BayWa board member responsible for the company’s energy business.