Deal with Equinix sees contracted volume reach 60 percent

Global clean energy enterprise TagEnergy has signed a second Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for its landmark Golden Plains Wind Farm project, with the world’s digital infrastructure company Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) to take 20 percent of the energy and green certificates (LGCs) generated by the $2 billion, 756MW first stage of the mega project.

The agreement with Equinix takes total contracted volume on the under-construction project to 60 percent. It comes after Snowy Hydro inked a deal in 2023 to purchase 40 percent of the energy and LGCs from stage one of the project, known as Golden Plains Wind Farm – East.

The ability to progressively contract energy production during construction and operation underscores the success of TagEnergy’s investment approach that saw it achieve financial close on a merchant basis in late 2022 without the need for PPAs, Andrew Riggs, TagEnergy Managing Partner, Australia, said.

“The significant interest in Golden Plains Wind Farm from major industry players reflects the quality and location of our project, and their confidence in our ability to deliver large-scale renewables projects,” Mr Riggs said.

“We’re proud to enter Golden Plains’ second, significant PPA with Equinix. We look forward to supporting them to meet their global 100% renewables target, as we work to drive the energy transition and ensure energy security for future generations.”

The latest PPA – Equinix’s first long-term PPA in the Asia-Pacific region – becomes operational on 1 January, 2029 and will help Equinix achieve renewables coverage targets at its 17 International Business Exchange^® (IBX^®) data centres across Australia.

“This first PPA in Asia-Pacific is a huge milestone for Equinix. It underscores our long-standing commitment to actively and meaningfully achieve Equinix’s global sustainability targets to drive positive change and foster a more sustainable future for data centres. Equally as important, we are helping our customers and partners in Australia meet their sustainability goals for their deployments in our IBX data centres across the country,” said Guy Danskine, Equinix Managing Director, Australia.

“As the world’s leading infrastructure company, we have the responsibility to harness the power of technology to create a more accessible, equitable and sustainable future. We’re pleased to embark on this agreement with TagEnergy as we both work towards hitting our target and meeting our goals for a more sustainable energy future,” he said.

TagEnergy is continuing to negotiate further PPAs under its strategy to progressively contract the project’s energy production during construction and operation.

Golden Plains Wind Farm – East is expected to start producing renewable energy in the first quarter of 2025.

One stages one and two are complete, Golden Plains Wind Farm will prevent more than 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted to the atmosphere annually – equivalent to 3 percent of Victoria’s total greenhouse emissions.