GFG Alliance to build 280 MW solar plant in South Australia

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – SIMEC Zen Energy, a unit of the Gupta group’s commodity conglomerate GFG Alliance, is building a large solar plant in South Australia as the state rolls out more solar energy to curtail high prices and guard against power blackouts.

SIMEC will build a 280 megawatt (MW) solar project that will generate 600 gigawatt hours of power per year, it said in a statement on Wednesday, which is equal to around 1 percent of Australia’s annual power needs.

The solar plant comes as part of a $1 billion pledge to invest in renewable energy, announced last year, after GFG Alliance bought up the state’s failing Whyalla steelworks.

SIMEC expects to receive development approval in the fourth quarter and plans to start construction in the first quarter of next year. It did not offer details about financing or buyers for the solar power.

Currently there are about 35 solar projects under construction in Australia and the average size of those is 85 MW, ranging from 1 MW to a 330 MW Riverland Solar array in South Australia.

Wind energy-dependent South Australia was hit by power price spikes and a string of blackouts in 2016-2017 that shut down industrial operations, including Arrium’s Whyalla plant and top global miner BHP’s Olympic Dam copper mine.

The state has since taken a number of steps to try to shore up power, including backing construction by Tesla Inc of the world’s biggest battery at a wind farm in the state.

SIMEC ZEN Energy is also developing other large scale energy projects, including battery storage and pumped hydro facilities in the state, where wholesale power prices are among the highest in the world.

GFG Alliance, headed by British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta, is a $10 billion turnover consortium that runs metals group Liberty House and energy and commodities group SIMEC.

It has been on a global buying spree of industrial assets over the past two years, including Rio Tinto’s aluminum assets in Scotland and France. Gupta said earlier this year it was also pursuing assets in autos and steel in India.

GFG companies had spent or pledged to spend at least $4.9 billion up until February, in industrial and energy assets run by its Liberty House and SIMEC energy units, according to Reuters calculations.