The first stage of the wind farm will see the construction and operation of 36 wind turbines to deliver a combined capacity of 126MW. Snowy Hydro and ERM Power are supporting the first stage of the project with their offtake agreements.
Lincoln Gap, which will be located 15km west of the Spencer Gulf town, will be built by Senvion Australia under the terms of a turnkey contract. The wind farm is slated to enter into operations in the first quarter of 2019.
Its first stage will be helped with a loan of up to A$150m ($115m) by Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) as the project financier. Investec has given facilities of A$39m ($30m) for working capital and letters of credit for the project.
Overall, the Lincoln Gap Wind Farm will comprise 59 3.6MW Senvion wind turbines to generate enough power to meet the consumption needs of around 155,000 homes. The wind farm project through the ElectraNet transmission network will feed into the South Australian electricity grid.
The project will also see a 10MW utility-scale battery system installed. As per Nexif Energy, the battery system will have potential expansion capability to use battery technology advancements.
Nexif Energy was founded in 2015 by Singapore-based independent power management company Nexif with global energy-focused private equity firm Denham Capital. The Lincoln Gap wind project represents the largest investment of Nexif Energy so far.
Nexif Energy co-founder and co-CEO Matthew Bartley said: “As a new, independent participant to the Australian market, we are excited to implement an innovative contracting strategy that will not only provide renewable power to thousands of Australian homes but also optimise the use of grid-scale battery storage on a commercial basis.”
Apart from the Lincoln Gap Wind Farm, Nexif Energy is also developing another Australian wind farm with a capacity of 90MW in New South Wales, in the Waterloo Ranges.
