SEC to buy Gippsland project for up to $700 million
It was approved by the planning minister in 2022, but this decision continued to be challenged in court by community groups until the case was dismissed in 2023. To alleviate community concerns, developers have proposed using artificial intelligence to manage wildfire risks, among other measures.
But the project remained under a cloud after further changes to planning permissions were sought and construction timelines were regularly pushed back between 2024 and 2025. The wind farm will be SEC’s first project in Gippsland, which has been vital to the country’s energy system for decades through large coal-fired power stations.
“This project will capitalize on the Latrobe Valley’s proud history as Victoria’s energy hub and ensure the region continues to play a leading role in our renewable energy future,” Eastern Victoria MP Tom McIntosh said.
The project is estimated to create 300 local jobs and channel $22 million into neighborhood programs and community benefit funds.
The announcement of a third SEC project comes two weeks after the completion of its first investment, a large-scale battery project in Melbourne’s west known as the Melbourne Renewable Energy Centre. When the commission was first revived, the Victorian government committed to spending $1 billion on renewable energy or storage projects and reinvesting profits from those investments into other projects.
It has now surpassed that figure and committed at least $1.27 billion, investing $245 million in a battery hub, at least $650 million in a wind farm and $370 million in a solar and battery park under construction in Horsham.
The decision to invest in a struggling onshore wind project in a year when no similar projects have been fully funded is in line with the SEC’s vision first outlined by CEO Chris Miller in 2024.
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At that time, he said that the commission would invest in projects. where the private market is still unsure The state is trying to close a five-gigawatt gap between where Victoria should be and the current trajectory of renewable energy and storage projects scheduled to be delivered by 2035, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator.
“The SEC has now committed more than a gigawatt of renewable energy capacity, which is a quarter of our 2035 goal of 4.5 gigawatts,” Miller said in a statement Monday.
Offshore wind, another key element of the state’s energy policy, is under serious pressure after several private sector developers pulled out of tenders to farm off the Gippsland coast.
The state will not meet its target of generating 2 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2032, Victoria’s Auditor General said this month.
Experts have criticized the SEC’s most frequently stated goal of lowering household energy prices as being difficult to achieve directly.
The government argued that it achieved this by increasing renewable generation and encouraging the electrification of households.
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