Orora invests in wind farm

Orora is one of several companies investing in a wind farm in Victoria, Australia with its completion to see the packaging giant sourcing 80 per cent of its electricity from renewable sources.

It follows on from its long term power purchasing agreement with Pacific Hydro which supplies energy generated from wind farms to Orora’s South Australian sites.

The new wind farm named Lal Lal comprises two sites, at Elaine and at Yendon in Victoria, and will have a generating capacity of 228MW, using 60 turbines, with civil and electrical construction undertaken by Zenviron.

Once complete, Lal Lal will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 95,000 homes and save 780,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Nigel Garrard, CEO, Orora says, “Energy price certainty and continuity of supply is a critical consideration for an energy intensive business like Orora.

“From our perspective, renewable energy represents a competitively priced and sustainable energy source that will safeguard supply for our Australian operations.

“As a result of the Lal Lal wind farm agreement and our earlier agreement with the Clements Gap wind farm in South Australia, 80 per cent of Orora’s electricity requirements in Australia will now come from renewable sources.

“This is an increasingly important consideration for Orora, our customers, employees and shareholders.”

Macquarie Bank, which is financing the deal, says, “The arrangement comprises two components, the first being a Proxy Revenue Swap (PRS) which helps to offset any production volume, timing of energy generation and future energy price risks. The second component is a corporate Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with packaging solutions provider Orora, allowing the company to lock in the cost of attaining baseload green energy.

The bank says this is the first time a PRS and PPA have been combined in an arrangement of this nature in the Australian renewables sector.