Victoria to get first publicly owned windfarm with 33-turbine Latrobe valley project | Victoria
Victoria will have its first publicly owned wind farm after the government’s electricity commission spent $650 million on a 33-turbine project in the Latrobe valley.
Construction of the Delburn wind farm is scheduled to begin in early 2026, and climate advocates said the project’s acquisition by the State Electricity Commission was a major milestone for a region known for private coal plants.
The commission said the project would be a “beacon for investment in renewable energy generation” in the state’s traditional power generation base and would produce enough electricity to power 130,000 homes.
The commission was revived by the Andrews government in 2022, decades after the privatization of electricity generation assets.
The 205-megawatt wind farm, which will be delivered by developer OSMI Australia using turbines supplied and installed by Vestas, is expected to be fully operational by 2028.
The Victorian government said last year Delburn was the first wind farm project to reach financial close and the first publicly owned wind farm in the state.
Victoria’s Energy and Climate Minister Lily D’Ambrosio said the state commission had “come back and strengthened the future of Gippsland after Jeff Kennett sold it for a profit”.
He said all revenues from the commission will be invested in further renewable energy projects.
The acquisition of Delburn meant that the commission now had more than a gigawatt of renewable energy projects; this was almost a quarter of the way to the 2035 target of 4.5 GW of renewable generation and storage.
Wendy Farmer, Gippsland organizer of Friends of the Earth’s Yes2Renewables campaign, said the announcement signaled a new chapter for the region, “renewed public ownership and regeneration justice”.
He said the 33 turbines would overlook the former Hazelwood coal-fired power plant and coal mine site.
Hazelwood closed in 2017, and eight 137-foot-tall chimney stacks that had been a prominent sight in the landscape since the 1960s were demolished in 2020.
“When you saw the Hazelwood piles you knew exactly where you were,” Farmer said.
“These new turbines will be a new landmark on the landscape. People will be able to see that this place has changed. It will be an icon across the Latrobe valley.”
Chris Miller, the commission’s chief executive, said: “The Latrobe Valley has been the engine of Victoria’s energy system for more than a century and we believe the region will play a critical role as Victoria transitions from fossil fuels to a system powered by storage-supported, renewable generation.”
The wind farm will operate for at least 35 years and create more than 300 jobs for the region, the commission said.
Earlier this month the commission announced the start-up of the Melbourne Renewable Energy Centre, which it co-owns – a 600MW battery and the largest so far connected to the country’s main eastern grid.
