Renewable energy developer Ampyr Australia has signed what it claims is an Australian “first-of-a-kind” Aboriginal community equity partnership and participation model for the Wellington Stage 1 battery energy storage system (BESS).
The 300MW/600MWh Wellington Stage 1 BESS is being developed just north of the rural town of Wellington in the Central Western Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia. It is roughly 382km northwest of Sydney, the state capital.
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The newly announced equity model is designed to provide Wambal Bila, an organisation comprising members of the Wellington Aboriginal community, with a steady income stream and the opportunity to share in project revenues for the project’s lifetime.
Ashurst, a global law firm, advised on the new model, which also allows Wambal Bila to build business capacity and know-how, supporting long-term economic empowerment in Australia.
One of the model’s noteworthy features is that it provides Wambal Bila with an entitlement to an annual priority distribution amount and the ability to share equally alongside the investor in project revenues.
Ashurst has served as an adviser on several BESS deals across Australia, including the development and financing of Amp Energy’s 300MWh Stage 1 Bungama BESS in South Australia and Eku Energy’s 500MWh Williamsdale BESS in the Australian Capital Territory.
Jo-En Low, a partner at Ashurst, believes the equity deal will set a new benchmark for community participation in renewable energy projects across Australia.
“This transaction not only provides a pathway for the Wellington Aboriginal community to benefit from the energy transition, but also showcases the power of innovative legal structuring to drive positive social and economic outcomes,” Low added.
Ampyr Australia reaches financial close on the Wellington BESS
The new equity model comes a couple of weeks after Ampyr Australia confirmed it had reached financial close on the 600MWh Stage 1 Wellington BESS.
The organisation said it had relied on its backer, Singapore-based investor AGP Sustainable Real Assets, and AU$340 million (US$221 million) in debt financing for the Wellington BESS.
Several banks, including the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Bank of China, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), Rabobank, Societe Generale, and United Overseas Bank, provided debt financing.
Ampyr Australia purchased the remaining 50% in the Wellington BESS site from Shell Energy Australia in early February. This was for the project’s first stage whilst the second stage, already owned by Ampyr, will increase the BESS by 100MW/400MWh.
Earlier this year, Ampyr signed a 10-year virtual offtake agreement with Australian renewable energy developer Zen Energy for 150MW of the Wellington Stage 1 BESS capacity. The offtake agreement will provide flexibility in capacity contracting for Ampyr while enabling ZEN to firm its portfolio of sustainability-driven customers.
Ampyr Australia has contracted battery storage system integrator and clean energy software and services company Fluence to deliver the 600MWh Stage 1 Wellington BESS.
Fluence will provide its full suite of energy storage products, including its Gridstack system, a 20-year service contract, AI-powered bidding optimisation software Mosaic, and the Nispera asset performance management (APM) platform.
Marie Cullen, head of procurement at Fluence Australia, recently explained why responsible sourcing is important to the energy transition and energy storage developments in a contributed article exclusive to Energy-Storage.news.
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