By Gillian Tan
SYDNEY--Competition for a stake in an Australian wind farm is
thinning, after a key shortlisted party pulled its interest.
China Longyuan Power Group (0916.HK) won't submit a final offer
in an auction for a stake in Boco Rock wind farm, a person familiar
with the matter said Wednesday.
China's largest wind-power producer had been shortlisted
alongside Thailand's Electricity Generating PCL (EGCO.TH) as
potential buyers of a stake in the New South Wales state wind farm,
The Wall Street Journal reported last month.
Thailand's Egco remains likely to submit a final bid by the Apr.
24 deadline, separate people familiar with the matter said. It
could acquire between 50% and 100% of Boco Rock, depending on
whether General Electric Co.'s (GE) energy investment arm GE Energy
Financial Services exercises its option over half of the wind
farm's equity.
Egco president Sahust Pratuknukul said last month that the
Bangkok-listed company plans to make investments worth 15 billion
Thai baht (US$518 million) in the coming year.
Among its targets are "joint ventures in renewable energy
projects, such as wind and solar power plant projects," he said,
adding that its offshore focus would be in neighboring countries in
the Asia-Pacific region.
Interest in the Boco Rock wind farm, which will have up to 107
megawatts of installed generating capacity, shows overseas
investors are becoming more confident that they can make a profit
from renewable energy projects.
Hong Kong-listed Longyuan, which has a market value of $7.6
billion, had an accumulated pipeline capacity of wind power
projects of 63.1 gigawatts as at Dec. 31. The group's wind power
generation rose 32.7%, while coal power generation declined 5.3% in
the first quarter of 2013, compared with the same period a year
earlier.
The entire Boco Rock project, planned by Continental Wind
Partners and Wind Prospect Group, will have an enterprise value of
around 300 million Australian dollars (US$311 million), and its
first stage of development includes 66 wind turbines. Australian
government approval has been received to double the wind farm's
size to up to 122 turbines.
In September, EnergyAustralia signed a power purchase agreement,
which includes acquiring the output and renewable energy
certificates generated from Boco Rock's first stage.
EnergyAustralia is the Australian unit of Hong Kong-listed power
generator CLP Holdings Ltd. (0002.HK).
Egco, which has a market value of $2.8 billion, has previously
sought to buy Australian assets including the 53-MW Hallet 5 Wind
Farm, which was eventually sold by AGL Energy Ltd. (AGK.AU) to
Japan's largest wind power developer Eurus Energy Holdings Corp., a
company owned by Toyota Tsusho Corp. (8015.TO), and Tokyo Electric
Power Co. (9501.TO).
Egco also sought to buy a stake in two of Australia's biggest
wind farms from closely held renewable energy producer Hydro
Tasmania, a process that was eventually won by China's Guohua
Energy Investment Co., a unit of state-owned enterprise Shenhua
Group.
Continental Wind Partners, Egco and China Longyuan Power didn't
immediately return requests for comment by phone and email.
Write to Gillian Tan at gillian.tan@wsj.com
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