Goldwind Australia successfully started construction of the 530MW the Stockyard Hill wind farm project. KPMG supported Goldwind throughout the Stockyard Hill lifecycle supporting the acquisition, development and financing of the project.

The critical construction milestone was celebrated with a groundbreaking ceremony at the project site on 14 June 2018, with Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews officially launching the project.

Stockyard Hill project is situated around 50km west of Ballarat, Victoria and will consist of 149 turbines and have the potential to power more than 340,000 homes annually. The project will be powered by Goldwind’s new 3S turbine, offering higher capacity per turbine resulting in increased efficiency. This was a key element in the success of Goldwind successfully acquiring the project from Origin Energy.

As part of the acquisition, Origin Energy agreed to purchase all the energy and renewable energy certificates produced by the project until 2030, the largest wind farm power purchase agreement in Australia.

KPMG Australia acted in the capacity of financial and commercial adviser throughout the transaction lifecycle of Stockyard Hill since June 2016, including the successful acquisition of the project from Origin Energy through to the final close of the project financing package provided by a consortium of nine domestic and international banks, underwritten by the National Australia Bank.

In addition to this, KPMG provided corporate and indirect tax services to Goldwind in support of the transaction.

The deal is another example of KPMG’s work in the renewable energy markets including acting as commercial, financial and tax adviser to:

• Goldwind on the sale if Cattle Hill Wind Farm to PowerChina.
  
• Edify Energy on the sale of Daydream Solar Farm and Hayman Solar Farm to BlackRock.
  
• Edify on the sale of Darlington Point Solar Farm, which will be the largest solar farm in Australia, to Octopus.