Already a subscriber?Windlab, taken private by Andrew Forrest’s Squadron Energy and Sydney’s Federation Asset Management in 2020, has kicked off a round of meetings with banks to line up nearly $1 billion in debt financing for its Gawara Baya wind farm in Queensland.
Street Talk understands Windlab has mandated ICA Partners to arrange debt funding for the project, including a 408-megawatt wind farm and a 100-megawatt two-hour battery. It is expected to cost $1.4 billion to get up and running. The debt will be structured as non-recourse project financing. Gawara Baya will be located 65 kilometres from Queensland’s Ingham and aims to power 240,000 homes. It is separate to Windlab’s 1400-megawatt Bungaban wind farm, where mining giant Rio Tinto, in February, signed an agreement to buy 80 per cent of the output for the next 25 years to power its Queensland aluminium operations.