The State Electricity Commission will build Victoria’s first publicly owned wind farm, after buying up a stalled, shovel-ready project proposed for construction in the coal centre of Gippsland, overlooking the site of the former Hazelwood Power Station and mine site.
The SEC announced on Tuesday that it has acquired 100 per cent ownership of the 205 megawatt (MW) Delburn wind farm from Cubico Sustainable Investments, in deal that will see it develop the project in partnership with its originator, Osmi Australia.
The roughly $650 million deal marks a series of firsts, the most significant being that it is the first wind farm to reach financial close in Victoria in the last 12 months, breaking a drought on wind energy investment that has played out across the country.
This drought has turned into a minor deluge in the final weeks of 2025, starting with Tilt Renewables reaching final investment decision (FID) on its 108 MW Waddi wind project in Western Australia and then by Aula Energy hitting financial close on its Carmody’s Hill wind project in South Australia.
Tilt is expected to follow this up with FiD of the 288 MW Palmer wind project in South Australia. Vestas, which will supply the turbines for Waddi and likely Palmer, has also been named as the supplier to Delburn.
For the SEC, the acquisition marks the third for the reboot of the government-owned utility, alongside the 600 MW/1.6 gigawatt-hour (GWh) Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub, now in operation, and the formerly stalled and under-construction Renewable Energy Park Horsham, with 119 MW of solar and a 100 MW, two-hour battery.
SEC chief Chris Miller says the Delburn project been on the utility’s radar as a potential investment since 2024, as a good fit for its multi-pronged mission to enable the broader market, achieve risk-adjusted returns and address critical system needs.
“We know that wind, along with solar and storage, continues to play a critical role in Victoria’s energy transition,” Miller told Renew Economy on Tuesday.
“Importantly, more wind generation in the east of the state provides improved diversity in generation and helps replace retiring coal generation capacity.”
Delburn is the SEC’s first wind farm, and will also be the first in Australia to be built within a pine plantation – although there are several projects that propose follow suit in New South Wales, as well as Neoen’s 105 turbine Kentrbook Green Power Hub proposed for Victoria.
Co-located wind farms and plantations are common in Europe, where the height of the turbines allows them to operate above the trees and their co-location in what is already a highly modified commercial and industrial site minimises impact on native plants and animals.
But these potential up-sides have not spared the Delburn project from controversy and opposition, including the 2020 vandalism of a meteorological mast installed at the site in the very early days of development.
The original proposal for Delburn was for a 300 MW wind farm with 53 turbines at a height of 250 metres, and spanning three separate council areas. Turbine numbers were then revised down several times, landing on 33 with a capacity of 180-200 MW in 2020.
A big battery proposal for the site was rejected, on the grounds of the potential for it to be a fire risk. A late-2022 Supreme Court challenge to the wind farm’s state planning approvals claimed the wind farm was in a bushfire prone area and too close to local homes.
The Supreme Court challenge against Delburn was quashed in early 2023, however, allowing the project to get its ducks in a row for construction, which Osmi had hoped to begin in 2024.
But 2024 and most of 2025 passed by without any updates on construction timeframes. A December 17 progress report said only that negotiations for construction contracts were advancing, and expected to be finalised soon.
On Tuesday, however, the project’s new owner, the SEC, has confirmed that construction will begin in early 2026, with Vestas selected as the primary project proponent for construction works.
Miller says the project underscores the government-owned renewable energy company’s commitment to invest in Gippsland, which he describes as “the engine of Victoria’s power system for more than a century.”
“We believe the region will play a critical role as Victoria transitions away from fossil fuels towards a system supplied by renewable generation, supported by storage,” he said in a statement.
“The region not only has an established, high-capacity transmission network, it has a highly skilled workforce with a deep understanding of building and operating power generation.”
State energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio says the wind farm will help push down wholesale power prices for the state, while generating more that 300 jobs and $22 million in neighbour and community benefit sharing programs.
Delburn wind farm will also add to the firmed renewable generation assets the SEC will use to supply 100 per cent renewable electricity to the state’s public schools, hospitals, police stations and public transport systems.
“The SEC is powering Victorian government operations with 100 per cent renewable electricity – with all profits being invested back into projects that will deliver more renewable energy and lower power bills for Victorians,” D’Ambrosio said on Tuesday.
Victoria aims to reach 65 per cent renewables by 2030 and 95 per cent by 2035.
See Renew Economy’s Large Scale Wind Farm Map of Australia for more information.
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