Samsung C&T sells first Australian clean-energy project
Samsung C&T Corp. has sold a utility-scale solar and battery project in Australia, marking its first sale of a renewable-energy development rights outside North America as it seeks to extend a capital-light clean-energy strategy beyond the US.
The South Korean company said Thursday that its Australian renewables unit sold the Dunmore Solar Farm and Battery project in Queensland to Octopus Australia, the local arm of UK-based Octopus Energy Group Ltd., after completing early-stage development.
The Dunmore project combines 300 megawatt (MW) of solar capacity with a 150-MW/300-MWh battery energy storage system, designed to store excess daytime generation and release electricity during evening peak hours, when demand is highest and solar output fades.
The transaction follows several years of solar project sales by the South Korean company in the US and signals its attempt to replicate that development-and-sale model in new markets as grid-scale batteries become central to power systems, replacing coal.
A HYBRID PROJECT IN QUEENSLAND
The Dunmore project is located near Toowoomba in Queensland, about 240 kilometers west of Brisbane, and spans 538 hectares, roughly one-and-a-half times the size of New York’s Central Park.
Once operational, it is expected to generate enough electricity annually to supply about 60,000 households, according to Samsung C&T.
Octopus Australia has described the project as a hybrid solar-and-storage asset, capable of absorbing surplus solar power during the day and discharging it in the evening, improving grid stability and increasing the reliability of renewable supply.
Such hybrid systems are gaining traction in Australia, where coal-fired power plants are retiring and the challenge has shifted from building renewable generation to ensuring power is available when needed.
Alongside it, Octopus Australia has also acquired the 1.2-GW, 4.8-GWh Hanworth Battery near Bannaby, west of Bowral in New South Wales.
EXPORTING A US DEVELOPMENT MODEL
Samsung C&T developed the Dunmore project through its local subsidiary, Samsung C&T Renewable Energy Australia, established in 2022 as the group assessed Australia’s long-term renewables potential.
The company’s renewables strategy focuses on greenfield development, securing land rights, grid-connection studies and permits before selling project rights ahead of construction.
Samsung C&T has been ramping up renewable-energy development as falling commodity prices squeezed its traditional trading business amid a global slowdown.
Gains from its solar project sales climbed to $79 million in 2025, nearly four times the $22 million posted in 2021. Solar development has emerged as a meaningful earnings contributor, with its trading and investment division posting an operating profit of 272 billion won ($186 million).
Samsung C&T did not disclose the value of the latest transaction.
The company is also advancing additional solar and energy-storage projects in New South Wales, building on its Queensland sale.
The company said it plans to broaden its renewables strategy to include joint development partnerships and, eventually, operation of solar-and-storage assets, starting in the US.
It is also accelerating battery-focused projects in Germany, Japan and Canada, seeking to build a geographically diversified pipeline.