- Infigen Energy has purchase Smithfield Gas Turbine for $60 million
- Smithfield OCGT is a flexible fast-start generator with 109 MW of capacity
- The plant will provide clean, competitively priced renewable energy to a growing customer base in commercial and industrial sectors
Infigen Energy has acquired the Smithfield Open Cycle Gas Turbine in Western Sydney, New South Wales for $60 million. Purchasing this fast-start gas plant will support cheaper renewable energy and sell an increased amount to its growing customer base.
The Smithfielf OCGT is a ‘flexible, fast-start generator’ with 109 megawatts of capacity. Infigen plans to pay an extra $1 million for every extra megawatt of capacity it can get out of the plant which has been discussed with the Australian Energy Market Operator. It’s probable that Infigen will ultimately pay an extra $14 million for the maximum capacity of 123 megawatts.
Infigen’s acquisition of Smithfield OCGT has put the company in a a good position as it will greatly benefit from the purchase. The capacity of the Smithfield plant allows Infigen to grow its Commercial and Industrial customer base, providing them with well-priced clean energy.
The Smithfield OCGT has an expected lifespan of 20-30 years giving Infigen plenty of time to facilitate more stable markets, higher quality earnings and to profitably grow renewable energy generation by 300-400 megawatts on a Capital Life basis.
Infigen also announced an expected half-yearly distribution payment of 1 cent per security for 2H/FY19. This will be subject to the Board in June 2019.
“The acquisition of the Smithfield peaking plant and the expected reintroduction of distributions on a sustainable basis, represent two important milestones in the further successful execution of our business strategy,” Infigen Energy Managing Director, Ross Rolfe said.
“The ownership of firming capacity in NSW will enable us to substantially increase the renewable energy we sell to our growing customer base on a reliable and firm basis, and to increase the number of customers we serve” he said.