Shanghai Electric and GFG cooperate in South Australia

Shanghai Electric and SIMEC Energy Australia, a member of the GFG Alliance, will jointly build a solar farm in South Australia after signing a memorandum of understanding on June 3.

The Cultana Solar Farm will offset the impact of rising energy prices. It is expected to produce around 600GWh of energy per year, powering  government and commercial customers in South Australia.

Shanghai Electric will be responsible for engineering, procurement and construction.

“We are fortunate and grateful to have the global expertise of Shanghai Electric in partnership with us,” said Sanjeev Gupta, GFG Alliance Executive Chairman and CEO.

“We look forward to having a prosperous and close working relationship with Shanghai Electric on the Cultana project as well as future GFG projects,” Gupta added.

The project has financial support from Bank of China, China Construction Bank and China Minsheng Bank.

The solar farm is set to supply energy to GFG’s Whyalla Steelworks, a steel plant being built in partnership with CISDI, a subsidiary of China Minmetals.

“We and industries in South Australia are beneficiaries of the Belt and Road Initiative. We will continue to cooperate with Chinese enterprises for our mutual benefit," Gupta said.

SIMEC is an energy and natural resources group with a turnover of US$2.7 billion in 2017. Its main operations cover energy, mining, shipping, commodities and infrastructure.

The GFG Alliance (Gupta Family Group) is a British company with annual revenue of over US$15 billion and around 15,000 staff, operating in fields such as energy generation, metal manufacturing, engineering, natural resources and financial services.