SYDNEY: New Energy Solar has notified that the Beryl Solar Plant, seven kilometres west of Gulgong in New South Wales, has commenced commercial operations. The 110.9 MW plant is selling electricity under its 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Sydney Metro.[the_ad id=”31605″]The addition of Beryl’s output increases the operational capacity of the New Energy Solar portfolio by 24%.
Beryl is the 15th operating asset in the New Energy Solar portfolio, a significant increase from four operating plants at the time of New Energy Solar’s ASX-listing in December 2017. With Beryl operating at full capacity and the construction of the 199.6 MW Mount Signal plant on track, New Energy Solar’s portfolio will be almost fully operational by the end of the 2019 calendar year.
The anticipated capacity of the operating portfolio at year end will be 772 MW compared to 454 MW at the end of December 2018.
John Martin, New Energy Solar CEO, said “Beryl has reached commercial operations on time and on budget, even accounting for the increase in capacity. The offtake is contributing directly to the newly opened Sydney Metro Northwest rail link and we are very pleased to be a part of this major piece of transport infrastructure.“
Beryl also marks a significant step forward in bringing our portfolio to operational status. At the time of the IPO, only four solar plants were operational and now, in what has been less than two years, we have 15 operational, utility-scale solar plants. All plants are contracted to creditworthy offtakers, enabling NEW to provide investors with attractive risk-adjusted returns.”