The Andrews Labor Government is taking a major step towards powering Victoria’s entire public sector infrastructure with renewable energy – including every government school, hospital and Melbourne’s entire metropolitan train and tram network – by bringing six new solar farms online.
Minister for Energy Lily D’Ambrosio announced the successful projects from Victoria’s second renewable auction, which will drive down power bills for Victorian families, lower emissions and create jobs.
The Labor Government’s second pioneering auction will support six new solar farms, providing 623 megawatts (MW) of new renewable capacity and four big batteries to help meet Victoria’s target of 100 per cent renewable electricity across government operations by 2025.
Together, the projects will generate nearly 1,460 gigawatt-hours (GWh) of new renewable energy per year, the equivalent of powering 300,000 homes.
The projects are expected to support 920 direct jobs, create around 290 positions for apprentices, trainees and cadets and deliver $1.48 billion in investment.
Around 200 Australian and New Zealand companies will be building and maintaining the projects, delivering more work for businesses across Victoria thanks to the Labor Government’s strong local content requirements.
The projects are also required to ensure that more of the program’s benefits stay in local communities by using local products and suppliers.
Four successful battery projects will double the state’s current storage with 365 MW and 600 MWh of dispatchable energy for the grid – equal to the capacity of all the big batteries installed in Victoria today.
The projects will support Victoria’s new Renewable Energy Storage Targets of 2.6 gigawatts (GW) by 2030 and 6.3 GW of storage by 2035.
The auction will also boost the economy by increasing Victoria’s renewable electricity supply, putting downward pressure on power prices and helping cut Victoria’s emissions from our energy sector.
The projects will be supported for ten years and will be developed across four Victorian Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) in Western Victoria, the Murray River, Central North and Gippsland.
Victoria surpassed its first Victorian Renewable Energy Target for 25 per cent renewable electricity by 2020 – and we are well on our way to achieving our remaining targets of 40 per cent by 2025 and 50 per cent by 2030.
For more information on the new renewable energy projects, visit www.energy.vic.gov.au/vret2
.