Ikea owner buys big stake in 756-megawatt wind farm in Australia

Renew Economy:

Golden Plains – one of the largest land based wind projects in the southern Hemisphere – has snagged a major global investor, with the investment arm of Ikea franchise owner Ingka Group taking a 15 per cent stake in stage one of the massive project.

The deal with the 756MW Victorian project was announced on Thursday by Golden Plains owner, TagEnergy, as the Netherlands-based Ingka Investments’ first foray into Australian renewables and one of the first deals of its kind.

That’s because it is not so much about Ingka buying energy that Golden Plains produces, which TagEnergy plans to sell on a merchant basis, but rather about investing directly in the development of new renewables as both a good business move and a responsible corporate climate action.

To that end, Ingka Investments gets the renewable energy certificates, or LGCs, generated by its stake in the project, to put towards reducing its own carbon footprint, while also supporting a major new clean energy development.

“We think it’s the first corporate direct investment of capital from outside the energy space, directly investing in the energy space in order to meet their [environmental, social and governance] goals,” says Andrew Riggs, TagEnergy’s managing partner for Australia.

[Sophie Vorrath]

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