Origin Energy plunges into solar pool

The Moree solar farm in New South Wales.

Origin Energy has signed up for its first ever contract to purchase electricity from a large-scale solar project in a further sign that the renewable energy sector is coming back to life after being effectively stalled over the past few years.

The utility has committed to a 15-year deal to buy all the output of a $164 million solar venture built by a Spanish company and already operating near the northern NSW town of Moree. The purchase will help meet Origin's liability under the 2020 Renewable Energy Target legislation, which was revised last year.

Players in the wind and solar power sector have been noting a renewed surge of interest in the Australian renewable energy sector after the Turnbull government's support for the RET helped drive a rise in the prices of renewable energy certificates, which underpin the target. But the latest deal won't kick-start a new project given Fotowatio Renewable Ventures had already built the solar farm with the backing of US private equity firm Denham Capital as well as with funding from government agencies.

Read Angela Macdonald-Smith’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Origin Energy to buy swathe of solar power output.”