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$93bn fund becomes key investor in local renewables project
Rest has expanded its portfolio of renewable energy infrastructure by supporting a Victorian solar farm and battery project.
The $93 billion fund has announced it will provide capital to develop Octopus Australia’s 80-megawatt Fulham Solar Farm and 128-megawatt hour Battery project, located in Victoria’s Gippsland region.
Other key investors include the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and clients of Westpac Private Bank, with the projects valued at some $300 million overall.
According to Rest, it is one of the first DC-coupled solar and battery hybrid assets in the country and is backed by a power purchase agreement from the Victorian state government.
Notably, Rest’s commitment to the Fulham Solar Farm and Battery project is via Octopus Australia’s OASIS fund. Rest made its first investment in the OASIS fund – which provides local and international institutional investors with exposure to Australia’s renewable energy transition – in 2023.
“As a long-term investor and supporter of Australian infrastructure assets, particularly in the renewable energy sector, we believe our members will benefit from the attractive risk-adjusted return prospects of the Fulham Solar Farm and Battery project, as well as from having additional renewable energy assets in their communities,” Rest interim co-chief investment officer Simon Esposito said.
“Octopus’s focus on renewables offers a fantastic opportunity for Rest’s 2 million members to benefit from the ongoing decarbonisation of the economy.”
With construction of the project now underway, the facility is expected to be fully operational by 2027, at which point it is estimated to generate enough energy to power 39,000 homes.
In conversation with Super Review sister brand InvestorDaily earlier this year, Esposito said that the fund had identified five megatrends that would impact society and markets more broadly, including decarbonisation, deglobalisation, demographics, digitalisation, and debt and central bank policy.
“The decarbonisation of the economy presents extraordinary opportunities to invest in assets that deliver over the long-term for our members – particularly the more than 1 million Rest members who will retire in a post-2050 world,” Esposito said at the time.
“The energy transition continues to provide interesting investment opportunities that align with our long-term member objectives.”
As such, the fund has made significant commitments to infrastructure assets that stand to support and benefit from decarbonisation, in addition to data centres and telecommunications networks that will underpin ongoing digitalisation.
This includes Rest signing on as a cornerstone investor in Fidelity International’s Fidelity Real Estate Logistics Climate Impact Fund last year, as well as its $1 billion commitment to renewable and clean energy infrastructure manager Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners in 2023.
AUTHOR
Jessica Penny
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