AUSTRALIA
Global energy giant UPC Renewables has just launched in Australia . Founder Brian Caffyn tells Niki Waldegrave its plans for expansion in Australia and elsewhere
UPC , led by UPC Group Chairman , Brian Caffyn – who founded the company – developed more than 50 wind farms and 20 solar projects in countries including Italy , the US , Indonesia , Morocco , China , Canada , Vietnam , India and the Philippines , UPC Renewables has finally launched Down Under .
The leading energy player develops , finances , constructs , owns and operates a portfolio of wind power generation assets as an IPP ( Independent Power Producer ) and its Australian arm went live in June .
Its first project is to develop one of the southern hemisphere ’ s largest wind farms at Robbins Island and Jims Plain in Tasmania . The projects , once built , will cost between $ 1.0bn and $ 1.6bn and boast an aggregated output potential of between 600MW and 1,000MW of wind energy potential . This is a nice addition to the company ’ s 3,500 + MWs of renewable energy and $ 6.6bn capital that ’ s been deployed across three continents over the last 21 years .
“ The Australian opportunity is really quite big , both in wind and solar energy ,” says Caffyn . “ We typically look at three to five-year cycles from the start of our Greenfield projects in wind . In solar it can be quite a bit shorter , maybe one to two years . You spend a lot of money for a long time and then you hope you hit it big .
“ The Robbin ’ s Island project development will be shorter in time - there ’ s a lot of work that ’ s already being done . But we ’ re going to have
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