The country’s largest wind farm is to be constructed in Victoria, set to generate almost 10 per cent of Victoria’s total electricity demand.
Minister for Energy and Resources, Lily D’Ambrosio turned the sod on the 215-turbine wind farm site in the Golden Plains Shire, 60 kilometres north-west of Geelong.
“The 1,300-megawatt project will be Australia’s largest wind farm and will play a key role in helping meet Victoria’s ambitious 95 per cent renewable energy target by 2035 and net zero emissions by 2045,” Ms D’Ambrosio said.
“This wind farm will prevent more than 4.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted to the atmosphere annually – equivalent to three per cent of Victoria’s total greenhouse emissions,” she said.
“The wind farm will also feature a 300MW battery storage facility, making a significant contribution to the Victorian Renewable Energy Storage Targets of achieving at least 2.6 gigawatts of energy storage capacity by 2030 and 6.3 gigawatts by 2035.”
Ms D’Ambrosio said a Community Reference Group had been established to oversee community engagement on the project and establish a Community Grants Program for not-for-profit community groups.
She said the State was well on its way to achieving its emissions reduction target of net zero by 2045, with a recent report published by the Commonwealth finding that Victoria’s emissions declined by 3.8 per cent between 2020 and 2021.
“This is 32.3 per cent below 2005 levels,” the Minister said.
