Australia’s renewables speeding toward net zero: Palisade

Australia, among the largest carbon emitters globally, is embarking on a once-in-a-generation shift from heavy dependence on fossil fuels to the electrification of industry, transport and manufacturing. It offers unprecedented opportunities for renewable energy investors, Sydney-based Palisade Investment Partners Chief Executive Roger Lloyd says.

Founded in 2007, the fund manager is one of the earliest investors in Australia’s clean energy sector. It primarily invests in mid-market infrastructure such as airports, ports, renewable energy and social infrastructure in Australia, the US and Europe.

Its flagship funds have posted some high returns on investments. Diversified Infrastructure Fund, created in 2008, averaged an 11.9% per annum return over a decade, and the Social Infrastructure Fund, formed in 2011, recorded 13.2% per annum. The Renewable Energy Fund achieved 12.8% per annum since their inception in 2016.

The CEO and executives of Palisade will visit Seoul Sept. 7-8 to attend the joint meeting of KABC-AKBC, two business councils between Korea and Australia, at JW Marriott Hotel and to meet existing domestic beneficiaries and investors.

At the conference, the executives will meet business leaders, policymakers and investment experts from South Korea and Australia to discuss collaboration opportunities in sectors such as energy, critical minerals, hydrogen, financial services, defense, food and healthcare.

Following is an email interview with CEO Lloyd on the firm’s portfolio management and investment perspectives.

▲ Why is renewable energy in Australia a key focus area of Palisade?

“Australia, one of the world’s largest carbon emitters, is embarking on a once-in-a-generation shift from heavy reliance on fossil-fuel generation and liquid fuels toward the electrification of industry, transport and manufacturing.

In order to reach Australia’s legislated emission reduction target of 43% on 2005 levels by 2030 and our goal of net zero by 2050, up to 6.3 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy installation is required per annum. The previous high of annual installed capacity was under 5GW in 2021.”

▲ What are Palisade’s major investments in renewables?

“Palisade was one of the earliest investors in renewable energy in Australia with an investment in Hallett Wind Farm in 2007 and an investment in Waterloo Wind Farm in 2013. The two wind farms are located in South Australia.

In 2015, we developed the second stage of Waterloo Wind Farm, which added 20 megawatts, entirely in-house. It was around this time that we established our in-house asset management arm, Palisade Integrated Management Services (PIMS), staffed with an experienced team of energy engineering technicians.

Among other things, PIMS was founded to lead the further development of renewable energy assets and provide operational management to the existing renewable energy portfolio.

In 2016, we created a dedicated renewable energy fund, Palisade’s Renewable Energy Fund, to invest in utility-scale wind and solar energy and storage in Australia. Palisade entered into a partnership with the Australian Government’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) to invest further in Australian renewables alongside other Australian institutional investors including Australian pension funds.

Further investments were completed in Queensland-based Ross River Solar Farm and Tasmania-based Granville Harbour Wind Farm in 2016 and 2018 respectively, whereby we invested in those projects pre-construction and worked with developers to bring the projects to fruition.

This included negotiation of key construction, operations and offtake agreements and arranging the project financing. We successfully managed both of those projects through construction and both have now been successfully operational for a number of years.

Follow-up investments in operating projects including South Australia-based Snowtown 2 Wind Farm, Victoria-based Macarthur Wind Farm and Victoria-based Stockyard Hill Wind Farm were completed in 2019, 2022 and 2023, respectively.”

▲ What is Palisade’s unique investment strategy for renewable energy in Australia?

“Earlier this year we rolled up our Australian renewable energy assets into a single portfolio company named Intera Renewables. Intera is one of the largest operating renewable energy platforms in Australia, with generating capacity in excess of 1GW.

The benefits of rolling up the assets under common ownership, management and financing platforms are as follows:

First, optimizing the capital structure by leveraging the risk diversification across a portfolio of assets. Individual project-level debt was repaid and a new platform-level facility was put in place.

Second, a diversified generation profile allows for better management of recontracting of offtake agreements.

Third, the ability to pursue investments in firming technologies, including batteries and pumped hydropower.

Lastly, the creation of a sustainable platform to undertake further developments and acquisitions leveraging a platform of scale.

We will undertake new Australian renewable developments and acquisitions via the Intera platform, and will invest across the lifecycle, including development, construction-ready and brownfield and operating assets. Institutional investors can access Intera Renewables via an investment in Palisade’s Renewable Energy Fund, which owns 50% of the Intera platform, alongside two large Australian superannuation funds and the CEFC.”

▲ What is Palisade’s approach to renewable energy assets in the US?

“Our approach to investing in US renewables will initially focus on community solar and commercial and industrial (C&I) solar, with a selective approach to utility scale.

We acquired Amp US, a US-based renewable energy generation and battery storage business earlier this year.

Amp US is a leading developer, owner and operator of US community solar and storage projects with its headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Since entering the US market in 2016, the platform has rapidly expanded its scale and currently operates a portfolio with a generation capacity of approximately 200 megawatts (MW) across 39 operating or under-construction projects expected to be completed in the short term.

Rebranded as PureSky Energy, the company’s large pipeline of solar and storage projects across existing and new US markets, including a recently acquired 22 MW portfolio in New York and an experienced management team, has placed the platform in a primary position within the distributed generation market.

Palisade will continue to build out the platform and work closely with the existing management team in the development of new projects.”

▲ What is Palisade’s view of the US renewable energy market?

“We see the renewable energy opportunities in the US as enormous, with policy targets requiring 50GW or more of renewables built per year.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is expected to provide a strong long-term policy framework to support the US energy transition, supported by nearly $400 billion in federal funding and incentives, predominantly by the extension and introduction of existing and new tax credits.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law dedicates $65 billion toward reinforcing the electricity grid infrastructure, following recent blackouts in Texas due to grid unreliability. Both of these policies are critical to supporting the ongoing growth of the US renewable energy sector.”  

Lloyd has over 25 years of funds management and investment banking experience. He joined Palisade in 2008 and was appointed managing director in January 2014.

Prior to joining Palisade, he spent two years with Perpetual Investments, including as head of infrastructure and 12 years with Macquarie Bank and Bankers Trust. Lloyd is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a chartered accountant and holds a Bachelor of Business from Kuring-gai College, which is now University of Technology Sydney.

Jihyun Kim edited this article.