Herbert Smith Freehills’ leading renewables team advises Acciona on its successful bid for the Aldoga Solar Farm

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Acciona on its successful bid to acquire one of Australia’s largest solar projects, the 265MW(AC) Aldoga solar farm in Gladstone, Queensland. 

Acciona will develop, finance, construct and operate the solar farm through a 30-year lease with the Queensland State Government.

The substantial scale of this project will also contribute significantly to the Queensland Government’s target of achieving 50 per cent renewable energy by 2030, and will support up to 240 construction jobs and 10 ongoing jobs upon completion.

At maximum capacity the Aldoga project will deliver the equivalent amount of energy needed to supply up to 122,000 households, which is around five times the number of households in Gladstone.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partners Luke Simpson and Gerard Pike with assistance from solicitor Nick Toth.

Mr. Simpson said, “It has been great to help Acciona Energy Australia with the latest of their numerous investments in large-scale renewable energy in Australia. This project is very significant for Queensland the Gladstone region and we look forward to helping Acciona to bring the Aldoga Solar Project to fruition.”

“The project shows the Queensland Government taking a different approach to creating employment opportunities in regional Queensland by auctioning a long term land lease and access to grid infrastructure for large-scale solar on State owned land.”

This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work with Acciona Energy in Australia and in the Australian solar industry. Other recent experience includes acting for:

• Acciona on its 132MW Mt Gellibrand Wind Farm in Victoria
• Kennedy Energy Park Pty Ltd (KEP) in relation to the construction, offtake, grid connection and project financing of the Kennedy Energy Park, located in the Flinders Shire in central north Queensland
• ANZ, MUFG and SMBC on the project financing of the 100MW(AC) Lilyvale Solar Farm in Queensland