650MW Renewables Reverse Auction Launches In Victoria

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The Victorian government’s renewable energy reverse auction is expected to drive up to $1.3 billion in new investment in large-scale projects in the state.

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio kicked off the process yesterday. Companies with existing planning permits for projects can now start bidding for 15-year Support Agreements with the Victorian Government.

“Renewable energy is key to Victoria’s future and we’re not wasting a minute – to drive new investment, create jobs and cut electricity prices,” said Minister D’Ambrosio. “This competitive auction will provide much needed certainty to the energy industry, supporting new projects in regional Victoria.”

Solar energy is getting special treatment. The auction consists of two elements – up to 550 MW of large scale “technology neutral” renewable energy projects and up to 100 MW of large scale solar facilities; so it’s quite possible more than 100MW of solar power capacity will result from the process.

It’s expected winning projects will collectively generate 1,250 construction jobs and 90 permanent positions, with the majority of employment to be created in regional Victoria.

Winning projects will be those that can attain the best standards of community engagement, provide the most benefit for local economies and represent value for money.

The Victorian Renewable Energy Auction Scheme (VREAS) forms part of the Andrews Labor Government strategy for achieving the recently legislated Victorian Renewable Energy Target. The VRET sets targets of 25 per cent of the state’s electricity generation being from renewable sources by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025.

The VRET scheme aims to deliver up to 1,500 megawatts of new renewable energy capacity by 2020 and up to 5,400MW by 2025. It will support capital expenditure of around $9 billion and generate up to 11,000 construction jobs.

The Victorian Government has tapped the knowledge of Simon Corbell to assist it towards its goals. Mr. Corbell was appointed to the role of Victorian Renewable Energy Advocate (VREA) in December last year. He was previously the ACT’s Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, and a driving force behind the Territory’s pioneering reverse auction scheme. The ACT’s program pushed down the cost of large-scale renewables and put the Territory on track to achieve its 100 per cent renewable energy by 2020 goal.

Renewable energy represented approximately 17% of Victoria’s electricity generation as at August this year according to Samantha Hepburn, Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Law at Deakin University.