Some of Australia’s most important infrastructure assets, including Port of Melbourne and Sydney Airport, have signed on to the final stage of the highly successful Australian Infrastructure Renewable Energy Program led by QIC and IFM Investors.
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The program, valued at over $700 million, will facilitate the supply of 500GWh of renewable energy per annum once all the assets roll onto the program. They will aim to help Australia’s critical infrastructure businesses in QIC and IFM’s portfolios save costs, reduce exposure to energy market volatility and cut emissions.
Launched in March 2022, Stage 1 of the program included seven critical infrastructure assets across New South Wales and Victoria—NorthWestern Roads Group’s WestLink M7, Transurban’s CityLink, Nexus Hospitals, Melbourne Airport, NSW Ports, Southern Cross Station and Ausgrid.
In November 2022, Brisbane Airport Corporation signed on for Stage 2 of the program.
Stage 3 will see additional infrastructure assets sign on to the program, bringing the total size of the program to over 500GWh per annum at its peak. The energy suppliers for Stage 3 are Iberdrola and Squadron Energy, joining Origin Energy and Stanwell as suppliers to the assets who joined the program in Stages 1 and 2.
Stage 3 will surpass Stage 1 as the largest contracted load (in aggregate), as part of the largest multi-asset, multi-state PPA in Australia. It is also the first consortium to sign for green rights beyond 2030.
QIC head of global infrastructure Ross Israel said, “Through this important renewable energy program, we are contributing to the net zero ambitions of some of Australia’s most significant infrastructure assets, while also reducing our assets’ exposure to energy market volatility and delivering cost-savings through renewable energy.
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“The renewable PPA is aligned to QIC’s decarbonisation investment thematic, where private capital will continue to play a critical role in funding pathways to achieve net zero targets alongside governments. This thematic has seen us grow our infrastructure platform to include some $9.5 billion in investments supporting the transition to a low carbon economy, as we seek to mitigate the risks of climate change on our investors’ portfolios.”
