Oil and gas giant behind huge Territory solar farm snaps up NT projects

THE firm behind Australia’s largest construction-ready solar farm near Katherine has acquired two new NT solar projects

The firm behind Australia’s largest construction-ready solar farm near Katherine has acquired two new NT solar projects

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THE international oil and gas giant that is behind Australia’s largest construction-ready solar farm project near Katherine, now has two new construction-ready Territory solar photovoltaic (PV) projects – one at Batchelor and the other at Manton Dam.

Eni Australia Limited, which provides domestic gas to the Territory from its Blacktip gas field in the Bonaparte offshore basin off the north-western coast of Australia, said it had completed the acquisition from NT Solar Investments Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Australia’s Tetris Energy.

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The projects will comprise the installation of 2x 12.5 MWp (Mega Watt peak) of ground-mounted PV panels and will be completed by the third quarter of next year.

Eni’s latest acquisition comes amid plans for a $20 billion solar farm project near Tennant Creek.

Aussie tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes has confirmed he will invest in the ambitious project with plans to declare “shortly” how much equity he would put into the project company Sun Cable.

“We haven’t announced who is involved but it’s a pretty amazing crew,” he said.

Eni entered the Australian Renewable Energy market at the start of this year with the purchase of the $40 million Katherine solar farm project.

The project has already sealed a solar offtake deal with the NT Government-owned utility Jacana Energy.

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The Katherine solar farm is expected to be switched on by the year’s end, while the Batchelor and Manton Dam solar projects are pencilled in for completion by the third quarter of 2020 after which they will start to supply clean energy to over 5000 homes each year.

Considered one of the global supermajors, Eni has operations in 79 countries.

It has a non-operated interest in the Bayu-Undan gas and condensate field and in the associated Darwin LNG plant.

It is currently the world’s 11th largest industrial company.