Victoria to light up with big renewables tender

The federal government has today announced a boost to renewables in Victoria and Tasmania, with a combined 1.7GW of the 6GW available across the country in Australia’s largest ever tender for renewable energy.

Deals will be signed with the states as part of the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme, which envisages 32GW of reliable renewables between now and 2030.

Tasmania will be guaranteed at least 300MW of new renewable energy projects in this tender, and Victoria will be guaranteed at least 1.4GW – enough to power at least 700,000 Victorian households.

Victoria has welcomed the Commonwealth’s early commitment ahead of the final agreement on the full CIS program for Victoria.

​Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio said: “Victoria has done the heavy lifting to drive more cheap renewables into the grid, it’s great to have the Commonwealth Government on board to help us build even more renewable energy projects and deliver cheap and reliable power to homes and businesses across Victoria.​”

Today’s announcement comes after recent deals across the country that deliver at least 2.2GW for NSW, 300MW for South Australia and 500MW for Western Australia.

The government said its Reliable Renewables plans are designed to ensure reliability and tackle barriers preventing energy coming online sooner as aging coal-fired power stations shut down.

The amount of renewable generation in the National Energy Market has increased by around 25 per cent since the government came to office.

Federal Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen said: “We’re focused on bringing energy prices down and boosting reliability by unlocking massive private investment in reliable renewables across Australia.” ​

Picture: aemoservices.com.au