Renewable energy developer Octopus Australia has bolstered its coffers by a further $250 million from a new investment round, this time attracting one of Australia’s biggest superannuation funds to its wind, solar, storage and green hydrogen plans.
Octopus said on Monday it has successfully closed the second round of fundraising for its flagship renewable energy fund dubbed Oasis, which invests in assets across wind, solar and storage from development through to operation.
Alongside the $200 million contributed by existing cornerstone investors – including Hostplus, the CEFC and Sky Renewables – Octopus says the latest fundraising round also attracted $50 million from Rest, a $A75 billion super fund with more than 1.9 million members.
Andrew Lill, the chief investment officer of Rest says the super fund represents more than a million members aged 30 or younger, a factor that has honed the fund’s focus on investments to support the global decarbonisation effort.
“Oasis is expected to enhance our members’ long-term financial interests and help shape Australia’s energy transition through a pipeline of solar, wind and storage infrastructure projects,” Lill said on Monday.
“This investment will also contribute to Rest’s objective to achieve a net zero carbon footprint for the fund by 2050 and is a welcome continuation of our plan to increase our allocation to climate-related solutions.”
For Octopus, the latest investment round brings the total amount of funds raised for the Oasis platform to $A550 million in just over 12 months since its inception.
In total, Octopus Australia now manages $A1 billion in operating and construction assets, $4.2 billion of projects under development and a further $1.3 billion under exclusivity.
The company has this year secured development rights to the under development 400MW Hay Plains wind farm in New South Wales, to add to the 180MW Dulacca Wind Farm, that is operational in Queensland, and the 400MW Giffard wind farm, under development in Victoria.
Octopus Australia is also eyeing a series of large solar and battery storage projects – and the emerging green hydrogen supply industry – in the Northern Territory after striking a revenue sharing deal with First Nations groups, just last week.
The agreement with the Larrakia Nation and the Jawoyn Association has led to the creation of Desert Springs Octopus, a majority Indigenous owned company backed by Octopus Australia, and with a $1 billion near term pipeline of projects.
These include 100-150MW of large scale solar, along with 30-50MWh of battery storage near Darwin, indicating that it will be a bidder in the newly announced auction for solar and battery projects by the state-owned energy retailer Jacana.
“The Australian energy market is making important strides towards securing a sustainable, renewables-led future,” said Octopus Australia managing director, Sam Reynolds.
“Institutional investors are playing an essential role in driving change.
“We now look forward to both deploying commitments into essential projects across Australia, while also turning our attention to another raise towards the end of 2023,” Reynolds said.
