The CEFC has committed $100 million to unlock the 'missing middle' of Australia's clean energy transition, working with Infradebt to accelerate delivery of mid-scale renewable energy assets, financing the development of up to 16 hybrid solar, battery and battery retrofit projects.
The investment will be delivered through a new financing initiative, the Distribution Connected Accelerator Program (DCAP), developed with infrastructure debt manager Infradebt.
The DCAP supports a pipeline of distribution-connected projects to be ready to commence construction in 2027. It will focus on projects up to 5MW with capacity to encompass larger projects.
Mid-scale renewables are a powerful lever in unlocking Australia's renewable energy future and are often referred to as the 'missing middle' between individual rooftop solar and utility-scale renewables.Monique Miller
CEFC Chief Investment Officer, Renewables and Sustainable Finance
The initiative is designed to reduce financing barriers for smaller projects through concessional senior debt financing. Smaller-scale, distribution-connected projects can connect faster by leveraging existing network capacity, avoiding transmission bottlenecks that can delay larger-scale developments.
The CEFC concessional senior debt helps create a financing pathway for distributed energy projects, supporting them to reach operations and accelerate Australia's energy transition using existing network infrastructure.
Infradebt will establish the program through a competitive process to shortlist prospective proponents.
CEFC Chief Investment Officer, Renewables and Sustainable Finance, Monique Miller said: "Mid-scale renewables are a powerful lever in unlocking Australia's renewable energy future and are often referred to as the 'missing middle' between individual rooftop solar and utility-scale renewables.
"Smaller, ready-to-connect wholesale generation projects can face barriers due to size and transaction costs. By providing targeted capital and certainty and efficiency of process, CEFC finance is helping to unlock a constrained segment of the market while supporting a more resilient energy system and utilising latent capacity in distribution networks."
Infradebt CEO, Alexander Austin said: "Australia's energy transition will not be delivered through a handful of mega-projects alone. Smaller, distribution-connected projects have a critical role to play because they can often move from development to operation significantly faster.
"Over the past 13 years, Infradebt has financed more than 80 infrastructure projects, including over 40 distribution-connected renewable energy projects. We are excited to partner with the CEFC to help unlock the next wave of renewable energy investment."
The DCAP builds on a separate previous $150 million CEFC commitment to Infradebt. This investment applies that experience to new, targeted financing bringing smaller distributed energy projects to market more efficiently.
About Infradebt
Infradebt is a specialist infrastructure debt fund manager with deep energy transition expertise. With over 13 years' experience in deploying more than 80 projects across Australia and contributing +1400GWh renewable energy per year. Infradebt uniquely structures and enables the flow of capital into the assets powering the energy transition.
