The man who’s delivering Andrew Forrest’s green dream

Andrew Forrest built an iron ore empire and now he wants to do the same with green energy using his own money. It’s Jason Willoughby’s role to bring his dream to reality.

Squadron Energy chief executive Jason Willoughby.

Andrew Forrest’s pivot to green energy champion has turned Australia’s renewable industry on its head. After committing to bankroll a $3bn Queensland clean energy project, including the world’s biggest battery a year ago, the iron ore billionaire followed up with a $4bn-plus deal to buy CWP Renewables.

The buyout catapulted Squadron, part of Dr Forrest’s family-owned Tattarang investment group, into the nation’s biggest renewables owner.

The speed and scale of Dr Forrest’s assault on the sector has put some competitors off-side, frustrated at being unable to match his financial firepower.

Others are sceptical about his ability to hit ambitious targets in the wake of a high-profile fallout with Atlassian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes on Sun Cable, a $30bn solar cable export scheme.

The man now in charge of delivering his boss’s green energy dream said a trip to Western Australia’s Pilbara, where he saw first hand the $66bn iron ore producer Dr Forrest founded, was proof he could deliver again.

Australian businessman Andrew Forrest. Picture: AFP

“I think everyone sits here today and thinks if we’re going to hit the target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030, that’s a big task,” Squadron chief executive and former CWP boss Jason Willoughby tells The Weekend Australian, referring to Labor’s 2030 climate goal.

“So for me, who else would you want driving that task than someone who has been successful in creating a $60bn-plus company from nothing. I don’t think you could ask for a better leader to face into that challenge of the renewable energy transition.”

The CWP deal will propel Squadron into Australia’s largest renewable player with a 2.4 gigawatt portfolio and a local development pipeline of 20GW. Its portfolio will provide enough electricity to power 8.5 million homes – more than double the number of homes in NSW.

It pits the Forrest fortune up against the deep pockets of Canada’s Brookfield, the company behind an $18.7bn takeover offer for Origin Energy, and with a plan to install 14GW of new green generation over the next decade.

Dr Forrest’s swoop on CWP had not been tipped by the market; the three frontrunners were the world’s largest wind farm owner, Iberdrola, along with QIC, AGL Energy’s renewable energy venture Tilt Renewables, and Origin with CDPQ.

Mr Willoughby said they had been lurking in the background and played a shrewd hand.

“We always knew they were there. It might have been a surprise to the market but it wasn’t a surprise to us,” he said.

The next move made by the Forrest camp was to install Mr Willoughby as Squadron’s boss.

The company’s most high-profile project to date has been a long mooted plan to open up Australia’s first LNG import plant at Port Kembla in NSW.

A lack of gas customers caused a re-jig of plans, much to the alarm of energy officials who had hoped the plant would help fill a supply shortfall in southern states.

But Mr Willoughby said there would be a need for the terminal by 2026 as part of back-up generation to balance out its green supplies.

“You’re going to need gas to firm that generation at least in the short term. We’re ultimately aiming to replace that with green hydrogen but the reality is probably for the rest of the decade, we’re going to need gas to provide that firming,” he said.

“We’re just not going to achieve renewables at the scale and pace we need unless we can firm that generation up.”

Squadron itself will now be one of the main buyers of gas from Port Kembla as it rolls out its 20GW renewable target, including 7GW of wind, 2.5GW of solar and 2GW of batteries by 2030.

Jason Willoughby and Dr Andrew Forrest. Picture: Frances Andrijich

“We think we’re probably our best customer at the moment,” Mr Willoughby said.

A gas and hydrogen-fuelled power station also remains part of its plans but Squadron said it was still considering the best location in NSW’s Illawarra region.

“It’s not just about location, it’s about size, about what role it plays and how much wind we’re building out of a particular time in which location,” he said.

Dr Forrest continues to push ahead with hugely ambitious green hydrogen projects through Fortescue Future Industries, but Mr Willoughby has a more conservative stance on how quickly the fuel source will become competitive with existing generation.

“We’re running pretty hard to target 2030 but it could be a little before or it could be a little after,” he said.

“With green hydrogen 60 per cent of the cost is renewable power. So in some ways the timing is in your own hands. The onus is on us come up with low-cost renewable power to help feed hydrogen production.”

It will begin with the 414GW Uungula wind farm in NSW, the first of many developments which will need fast project execution while bringing local communities onside.

Against a backdrop of coal plant closures, it’s a big job for Mr Willoughby and his 160-strong team.

Dr Forrest’s deep pockets and Mr Willoughby’s know-how will be pivotal for Australia to escape unscathed through the transition.

Asked if Australia could hit its 2030 renewable target – triple current levels – Mr Willoughby responded: “We’re going to do everything we can in our power to make it.”

Originally published as The man who’s delivering Andrew Forrest’s green dream