Energy major Petronas’ renewables offshoot has big plans for Australia

Petronas subsidiary Gentari has plans to grow its Australian renewables portfolio to multiples of its current size by 2030.

Gentari is looking to invest in more large scale solar and other renewables projects.

Malaysian renewables investor Gentari is aiming to increase its Australian footprint by more than 10-fold by 2030, following its circa $1bn entry into the local market earlier this year.

The company, which is a subsidiary of Malaysian energy major Petronas, has grand ambitions across Asia, with a goal to build a renewables portfolio of 30GW-40GW by 2030 and capture 10 per cent of the market share in electric vehicle infrastructure, or about 25,000 charging points.

Gentari bought Australian-based renewables company Wirsol Energy from its German parent for a rumoured $1bn earlier this year, and is using it, via local entity Gentari Solar Australia, as a stepping off point for much larger ambitions.

While the company would not comment on its expected local expenditure, given the size of its target, that figure would likely be several billion dollars.

Speaking before the company’s official launch on Tuesday, Gentari chief renewables officer Kian Min Low said they had 422 of installed capacity at the moment, mostly in large scale solar, and projects in the pipeline adding up to another 765MW in the short term.

Gentari is currently developing the Maryvale solar and energy storage project in New South Wales as well as the Barnawartha solar and energy storage project in Victoria, both of which are expected to reach a final investment decision soon with a combined capacity of more than 500MW.

Mr Low said while the portfolio was currently focused on solar and storage, they would also be looking to grow in wind and potentially hydrogen.

“We probably aim to be between five and eight gigawatts by 2030,’’ Mr Low said.

While the company’s current assets are all on the east coast, Mr Low said Gentari would not limit itself geographically and the new generation would come through a mix of early stage investment and acquisition.

“I think we can’t get to our five to eight gigawatt ambition by 2030 if we do not acquire, so we will be looking to acquire operating assets that fit our current ambitions,’’ Mr Low said.

“We’ll also be looking to acquire development opportunities. The ones that are obviously more exciting and more interesting for us are the ones that have development approval.

“So that’s a key milestone for us to consider, or very close to development approval.’’

Mr Low said Gentari was also looking to grow its portfolio organically, having incorporated the Wirsol Energy team, with 30-plus staff now in its Manly offices.

Mr Low said the company would be investing a “significant amount given the scale of the investments’’, but would not be drawn on a ballpark figure.

“Suffice to say it will be a significant amount of foreign direct investment into the Australian market,’’ he said.

Mr Low said his colleagues were also scouting the hydrogen sector for opportunities.

“My hydrogen colleagues are here regularly, scouting the market, looking for opportunities to invest in hydrogen production.

“Australia is quite lucky in that it’s got the resources available to potentially produce some very low cost green hydrogen for the world market.

“So it’s got the right ingredients ... and we would like to see if we can actually make some investments in this area in a short space of time.’’

Mr Low said on the green mobility front the company would keep an eye out, but the focus initially was in renewable production and storage assets.

“That’s probably more of a medium time frame,’’ he said.

On the policy front, Mr Low said Australia had good macro settings, such as the 2050 net zero commitment, while, as with all jurisdictions, having the right frameworks to allow projects to be developed was key, particularly at the state and local government level.

“It is obviously a challenge to try and get all of the, if you like, Goldilocks policies in place ... it’s challenging in each and every country.

“Every community has its own issues that it is sensitive to. And as investors, we will try and ensure that when we do invest, we take into account the views of all of our stakeholders, be they local, state, or federal level.’’

Gentari is currently the sole owner of its Australian assets however Mr Low said they were open to partnership opportunities.