utility scale advisory

Capital markets thinking, applied to utility scale renewables.

We advise developers, asset owners, and institutional investors on utility scale solar and battery energy storage projects. Structuring, connection pathway management, and offtake origination, delivered with the same capital discipline that underpins our PPA platform.

Midkin Solar Farm

Featured engagement

A group wide generation and decarbonisation study for Australian Food and Fibre.

It began as a 5MW solar and battery project at the Midkin cotton gin, and grew into a study of solar, storage, green hydrogen, ammonia, and diesel displacement across their New South Wales operations.

Australian Food and Fibre is one of the country’s largest cotton growers and ginners. Ginning and irrigation draw heavy load, and several of their sites still run on diesel. They engaged us for independent commercial and technical advice on generation and decarbonisation, beginning at Midkin and extending across the group.

The engagement

Client: Australian Food and Fibre
Anchor project: 5MW grid connected solar and battery, Midkin
Scope: group wide generation and decarbonisation study
Region: New South Wales
Role: independent commercial and technical advisory

The brief

Multiple cotton gins, with different load profiles and grid positions
Diesel generation in use at one gin, and across irrigation pumping
A need for an independent, costed view before committing capital
Options ranging from proven solar and storage to emerging fuels

We modelled five linked workstreams across the group.

Solar and storage at Midkin

A 5MW grid connected solar and battery system at the Midkin gin, with additional battery capacity sized for a staged rollout as load and economics evolve.

Solar across the gin portfolio

Feasibility of solar generation at their other cotton gins, each assessed against its own demand profile, grid position, and ginning season load.

Green hydrogen to displace diesel

Whether extra solar at Midkin could power an electrolyser, with the hydrogen moved to the Koramba gin, which runs on diesel generation, to replace that diesel with a renewable fuel.

Ammonia as a carrier

Whether converting that hydrogen to ammonia was viable, to make it easier to store and transport and to open a potential fertiliser linked product for the group.

Pumping and irrigation

Converting the diesel lift pumps to run on solar and electric drive, to move every megalitre of water at lower cost and lower emissions than diesel.

The Midkin solar farm is built and supplies the gin today, with battery storage staged to follow. The wider study gave Australian Food and Fibre a clear, costed view of where solar, storage, hydrogen, ammonia, and pump electrification stack up across their operations, and where they do not yet.

This engagement shows the depth of our advisory work, applied well beyond a single asset to portfolio feasibility, alternative fuel pathways, and the economics of replacing diesel for a client running its own energy and sustainability program.

Also advised

Solar feasibility for Sundown Pastoral, at the Wathagar gin.

A smaller, earlier engagement. Our initial solar farm analysis at the Wathagar cotton gin in New South Wales helped shape what is now a solar farm of around 12MW with battery storage on the site.

How we engage

Utility scale projects sit at the intersection of engineering, capital, and regulatory complexity.

We bring all three to the table. Our advisory practice was built out of the capabilities developed across a decade of behind the meter delivery and PPA origination, applied to projects measured in megawatts and megawatt hours rather than kilowatts. We engage in three primary capacities.

Transaction advisory

Advising on the sale, acquisition, or co-investment of utility scale assets. We structure the transaction and manage the process through to completion.

Connection and compliance pathway management

Managing the technical and regulatory pathway from grid application through Connection Agreement and Generator Performance Standard submission. We work directly with network service providers, AEMO, and the relevant network operators.

Project structuring and capital advisory

Advising on capital structure, offtake design, and risk allocation. Working with sponsors, financiers, and institutional investors on terms that hold up through development, construction, and operation.

Current and recent mandates

A snapshot of advisory work currently underway or recently completed.

Counterparty detail provided on request, subject to confidentiality.

Hunter-Central Coast REZ BESS

Advisory role on a 500MW / 1000MWh battery energy storage system in the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone, connecting via a 330kV transmission line cut in. Generator Performance Standard submitted late 2025, Connection Agreement expected end of CY2026.

Data centre energy advisory

We are advising several data centre developers and renewable energy land owners on the viability of regional data centres.

Land owner advisory

We advise land owners and help them create value pathways from their land. Our role is to ensure they realise that value, and are not left land banked by developers.

Who we work with

Our advisory clients fall into three groups.

Developers and sponsors

Project developers who need a partner with both engineering depth and capital-markets fluency. We help shape the project narrative, structure the capital stack, and navigate the connection pathway.

Asset owners and operators

Owners of utility scale solar, storage, or hybrid assets seeking strategic advice on offtake optimisation, refinancing, divestment, or portfolio expansion.

Institutional investors

Family offices, infrastructure funds, and institutional capital allocators seeking sector-specific advisory on Australian renewable energy opportunities.

Why our practice is different

Engineering and capital, held by one team.

Most utility scale advisors come from a pure finance or pure engineering background. We deliberately bridge the two. That positioning matters when a transaction or a connection pathway runs into trouble. We can model the IRR, redesign the offtake, and resolve the technical issue in the same conversation, because the same team holds all three capabilities. Clients tell us this is the single largest source of value we bring.

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