By Nick Hedley
Hong Kong-based real estate private equity firm Gaw Capital
Partners has entered Australia’s renewable energy sector with a majority
investment in Maoneng Group’s operations in the country.
The renamed entity, Gaw Maoneng Renewables (GMR), is
developing six projects, which will have a combined installed capacity of
1.9GW, across Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia. The lead project
is the 240MW/480MWh Mornington battery energy storage system.
The six projects – mostly batteries but also some solar –
require at least A$2 billion (US$1.3 billion) in capital expenditure, the
company said in a statement. Gaw Capital Partners and its institutional
investor partners will contribute both equity and debt funding.
Morris Zhou, GMR’s chief executive and managing director,
said: “The transition to renewable energy in Australia is accelerating under
this government’s policy, and batteries are a key piece to the puzzle in
facilitating higher grid penetration by solar and wind.”
Christina Gaw, managing principal, global head of capital markets
and co-chair of alternative investments of Gaw Capital Partners, said: “With
the growing interest conveyed to us by many of our institutional investors to
allocate capital to tangible assets in the clean energy and ESG space in Asia
and Australia, we are very pleased with the opportunity to back one of the
largest energy infrastructure investments in support of Australia’s energy
transition away from fossil fuels.”
Herbin Koh, director and head of venture and growth equity at
Gaw Capital Partners, said: “We have been looking for some time at a suitable
entry into the clean energy investment sector, and utility-scale batteries
underpin the dispatchable energy requirements for the grid to transition from
its mix from coal and gas to renewable energy generation.”
