Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Ministers statements: energy policy

Lily D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park – Minister for Climate Action, Minister for Energy and Resources, Minister for the State Electricity Commission) (14:39): I am absolutely delighted to say that we are getting on and doing the things that matter to Victorians – delivering the nation’s most ambitious renewable energy agenda and cutting the cost of living for Victorians. I am absolutely pleased to give a midyear update on where Victoria is up to with our renewable energy generation. Victoria has now achieved 36.5 per cent renewable electricity generation in this state, and there are nine more large-scale renewable energy projects that are currently under construction and that will provide even more capacity – 1300 megawatts of capacity is coming online to service Victorians into the future. As we do that, we are creating more jobs and we are consistently delivering the lowest wholesale electricity prices in the country. We are keeping the jobs coming with our 95 per cent renewal electricity target by 2035 – 59,000 of them – and new affordable electricity.

The projects keep coming. We have got a new big battery at Hazelwood – 200 megawatts – which opened just a few weeks ago. Plus of course I was delighted to turn the sod just last week on a new battery that is coming to Cranbourne – a 200-megawatt battery over in Cranbourne. Just in April I turned the sod on the new big renewable energy wind farm at Golden Plains – 750 megawatts of new energy that is going to be built for our state, and there is a lot more to come. We have also got to count the six projects that have been delivered thanks to our Victorian government’s Victorian renewable energy target second auction: 623 megawatts of new power from solar plus 365 megawatts of new storage. There is a lot more there. We know we are also delivering solar to people’s homes, battery storage technology in people’s homes, solar hot water and of course the power saving bonus. And we are bringing back the SEC, which will accelerate all these projects – (Time expired)