Portugal-based utility EDP has entered the Australian power market through the acquisition of local renewables developer ITP Development (ITPD), which has a project pipeline with over 1.5GW of capacity.
EDP's renewables subsidiary EDPR will focus on developing large wind and solar projects in Australia, some of which with options to co-locate battery energy storage systems (BESS). Most projects are in East Australia, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, EDPR said on 29 January.
One of the projects consists of a 480MW solar photovoltaic (PV) farm and a 200MW BESS unit in Queensland. The project is at an advanced stage of development and is expected to enter into operation by 2026.
EDPR did not disclose details about other individual projects or general construction targets for Australia.
The Portuguese utility had long been planning to step into the Australian market, following the establishment of its Asia-Pacific business a few years earlier. Australia has strong fundamentals and ample depth in renewables, EDPR said, and its "ambitious decarbonisation plan" makes it one of the markets with highest growth potential in the whole region.
Other major European utilities have been already operating in Australia, with German utility RWE entering the market in 2018 and Spanish utility Iberdrola following suit in 2020. French utility Engie and Italian utility Enel Green Power also operate plants in the country, while several other firms have been developing renewable projects.
EDPR in 2022 acquired a majority stake in Singapore-based developer Sunseap, one of the largest solar power operators in southeast Asia. Its Asia-Pacific business, which has since been headquartered in Singapore, accounted for just 5pc of EDPR's 16.6GW installed capacity and 3pc of the company's 34.6TWh global output as of the end of 2023. Most of the 890MW capacity in the region is in Vietnam with 402MW, and Singapore with 315MW, all of which are solar PV.
EDPR plans to add around 1.2GW in Asia-Pacific over 2023-26, with 0.6GW of distributed solar, 0.5GW of utility-scale solar and 0.1GW of onshore wind.
