Deal: Ashurst has advised Vena Energy on all aspects of the development and financing of the Tailem Bend II Hybrid Renewable Power Station, which consists of a fully integrated 87-megawatt solar farm and 41.5-megawatt/41.5-megawatt hour BESS.

Value: N/A

Area: Projects and infrastructure, sustainability

Key players: The Ashurst team was led by partners Dan Brown, Chris Redden and Kate Phillips and included partner Paul Newman, counsel Lixian Liang, senior associates Tristan Shepherd, Danielle Davidson and Melany Wilson, and associates Anne Hewson, Priscilla Umaria, Zoe Hinchliffe, Harriet Curran, Fiffy Che, Harrison Xu and Joshua Hetzel.

Deal significance: The power station will be located in South Australia and is expected to achieve commercial operations in 2023. It will be one of the first fully integrated hybrid power stations developed within the National Electricity Market and will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 37,000 homes. This means that the BESS can be used to smooth the operation of the solar farm and/or store solar energy for export when the sun isn’t shining and also to provide ancillary services, making a positive contribution to the stability and reliability of the national electricity grid.

The power station involves innovative offtake arrangements at the solar farm, a unique contracting structure, and a fundamentally new and market-leading approach to the co-deployment of renewable and dispatchable capacity in Australia.

Commenting on the deal, the firm said they were “excited to have advised Vena Energy on the development and financing of the Tailem Bend II Hybrid Renewable Power Station, including its ground-breaking capacity-based solar offtake and merchant BESS”.

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“This market-leading project demonstrates the commercial and technical viability of hybrid systems in the National Electricity Market, supporting the acceleration of Australia’s energy transition whilst ensuring to support the stability and reliability of the grid,” the firm stated.