The proposed Barwon Solar Farm, to be established north of Geelong and west of Werribee, will power up to 140,000 homes. Photo: Thurtell.
Approval for the establishment of a solar farm capable of powering almost 140,000 homes at Barwon, near Geelong, will be fast-tracked by the Victorian Government.
The 330-megawatt Barwon Solar Farm has been approved by Victorian Minister for Planning Sonya Kilkenny in a move that has been aided by funding from the Federal Government’s Capacity Investment Scheme.
The scheme enables developers to build sufficient cheap, clean, renewable energy and storage to replace ageing coal-fired generators as they are retired.
Also proposed for the site – near Little River, about 30 kilometres north of Geelong and 20 km west of Werribee – is a 250MW Battery Energy Storage System. This will funded under the state’s Development Facilitation Program to meet evening peak demands for more than 86,000 homes.
In 2024, the Victorian Government expanded the Development Facilitation Program to include renewable energy projects, allowing it to get cleaner and cheaper energy projects off the ground faster.
Since then, applications for 10 projects, valued at a total of more than $1 billion, have been approved, meaning up to 470,000 more homes could be powered by renewable energy.
The government says this investment in renewable energy means Victoria has the lowest wholesale power prices in the country, and bringing online even more renewable energy will ensure prices stay low into the future.
“Fast-tracking renewable energy projects like this one means we can deliver more Victorians cheaper and cleaner power sooner,” Minister Kilkenny said.
Minister for Energy Lily D’Ambrosio added: “We need to bring even more renewable energy projects online to ensure more Victorians can access cheaper and cleaner power – helping us get to our 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035.”
More details on the Barwon Solar Farm project can be found online here.
