A Progress report tabled in the Victorian parliament highlights that Victoria has doubled its renewable electricity generation in the last five years to supply 37.8 percent of the electricity grid. The state is well on target for over-achieving its 2025 target of 40 percent renewables.
But we need to be aware the International Energy Agency (IEA) in its 2023 World Energy Outlook report, has called for a tripling of renewables generation based on 2022 data.
Earlier this year Victoria formerly announced its 2035 climate targets that included a VRET of 95 per cent renewable generation by 2035 (The 2035 targets were an implementation of an election promise announced in October 2022). The legislated VRET 2030 target has also been increased from 50 per cent to 65 per cent. The state also set new Victorian energy storage targets for at least 2.6 gigawatts (GW) of energy storage capacity by 2030 and at least 6.3 GW by 2035 to support an accelerated renewable energy transition in Victoria.
As at 30 June 2023, there were 17 renewable energy generation projects under construction or undergoing commissioning in Victoria. These projects have a combined capacity of 1,734 MW. There was also one utility-scale storage project – the 150 MW Hazelwood battery – undergoing commissioning. These projects generated around 662 jobs in these renewables projects in 2022/23, many of them in regional areas of the state.
The just completed second VRET auction will bring forward a combined 623 megawatts (MW) of new renewable energy capacity and 365 MW of energy storage. The Victorian Government is also supporting installing 100 neighbourhood batteries across the state, partly funded by the Federal Labor Government.
The government is also reviving the State Electricity Commission (SEC) to build renewable energy projects in Victoria, with an initial investment of $1 billion towards delivering 4.5 GW of new renewable energy capacity.
For large-scale electricity generation, some 2,972 MW of renewable energy projects were in construction or commissioning during the year. These projects are estimated to have resulted in capital expenditure of $846 million during the 2022/23 financial year.
In the states electricity generation mix in 2022/23 Brown coal still predominates with 58.4 per cent, followed by Wind power with 20.1 percent, Solar PV at 7.9%, hydro-electricity at 5.5%, large scale solar at 3.4%, gas at 3.3%, bioenergy at 0.9%. There is still much to do.
Solar Homes Program
The Solar Homes Program, started in 2018, has now supported more than 270,000 households and installed more than 1,600 megawatts of capacity. The program is expected to generate 13 per cent of Victoria’s 40 per cent renewable energy target by 2025 and 15 per cent of the increased VRET 2030 target of 65 per cent renewable generation.
Residential and small business solar has reduced emissions and helped Victorians save on their energy bills.
In 2022/23 financial year, the Solar Homes program supported more than 37,400 Victorians to install new rooftop PV with a capacity of 274 MW, while the Solar for Business program supported 1,385 small and mid-sized Victorian businesses to install a further 23 MW of capacity.
The share of renewable energy in Victoria’s electricity generation has increased steadily over the last eight years, from 11.6 per cent in 2014/15 to 37.8 per cent over the 2022/23 financial year. The Solar Homes Program contributed around 3.1 per cent of Victoria’s electricity generation in 2022/23.
Offshore wind Targets
In March 2022 the Victorian Government set offshore wind generation targets. Currently there are no offshore wind farms operating in the state.
The Star of the South wind farm project in Bass Strait off the South Gippsland coast is the most advanced off shore wind project in Australia
Offshore wind targets:
- 2032 - target of 2 GW
- 2035 - target of 4 GW
- 2040 - target of 9 GW
- 2050 - potential capacity of 13 GW
Emissions reduction
The report outlines that:
Victoria’s electricity sector greenhouse gas emissions have fallen from around 60.3 million tonnes (Mt) of CO2-e in 2014/15 to around 38.0 Mt of CO2-e in 2022/23 (Figure 4). This decline was associated with the reduction in coal fired electricity generation (mostly contributed by the retirement of the Hazelwood Power Station in March 2017) and the growth of renewable electricity generation (which allows for the displacement of coal capacity) in Victoria over this period.
In 2022/23, the Solar Homes Program is estimated to have reduced emissions in the National Electricity Market by 0.85 Mt of CO2e below what they would otherwise have been. By 2027/28, the Solar Homes Program is expected to reduce electricity sector emissions in Victoria and the National Electricity Market by around 1.9 and 3.1 Mt of CO2e respectively below what they would otherwise have been.
References:
VRET Progress Report 2022-23 (Tabled in State Parliament), 19 October 2023, https://new.parliament.vic.gov.au/parliamentary-activity/tabled-documents-database/tabled-document-details/7543
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