APA links with French giant to bid for New England energy zone
APA Group has joined with France’s EDF to bid to construct NSW’s second renewable energy zone in an attempt to capture a share of the $50 billion opportunity involved with connecting wind and solar farms to the grid.
APA chief executive Adam Watson described EDF, part of a consortium to bid to build the New England REZ, as “incredibly strategic” for the pipeline company. “They’re one of the largest – if not the largest – electricity transmission companies in the world, and they bring great synergies to us as Australia’s leading energy infrastructure provider,” he said.
APA CEO Adam Watson says electricity transmission represents a significant opportunity for the energy infrastructure owner. Dion Georgopoulos
“They bring great synergies with the likes of procurement of supplies and procurement of the technical skills that we are going to need, and the country is going to need to build out things like electricity transmission.”
The move to increase involvement in electricity transmission is part of APA’s strategy to beef up the resilience of its portfolio to the shift to low-carbon energy, broadening its interests beyond gas transmission. It was outbid by Canadian heavyweight Brookfield in the $10 billion takeover battle for Victorian grid owner AusNet in 2021, but has since inked a deal to buy the Basslink interconnector between Victoria and Tasmania, and in August struck a deal with Alinta Energy that will launch it into remote power generation in Western Australia.
But APA’s consortium bid to build NSW’s first REZ, the Central-West Orana zone near Dubbo – which included Macquarie Capital, UGL and CIMIC – was edged out by Spain’s Acciona, Cobra and Endeavour Energy.
It has now signed a memorandum of understanding with
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