The wind farms that Baillieu killed…

If Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu came to power with a determination to kill off opportunities for wind farm development in Victoria, then he can be proud of his work.

The annual Electricity Statement of Opportunities released today by the Australian Energy Market Operator highlights how much the opportunities for wind farm developments in Victoria have been reduced in the past year.

Even though the Renewable Energy Target will require some 8,500MW of wind farms to be erected in the National Electricity Market over the next eight years, some 2,200MW of wind farm proposals were withdrawn in the past 12 months.

Most of these withdrawals came from Victoria, where the Baillieu government has introduced severe planning restrictions, with 14 of the 18 previously publicly announced wind farm proposals that are now unlikely to proceed located in that state.

Here is the list:

The ESOO document does not say specifically that these wind farms were victim’s of Baillieu’s planning laws, but the number of Victorian withdrawals is more than just coincidence. There are many more hanging in the balance.

Another interesting observation from the ESOO document was that while there were 1,014MW of new wind farm proposals in South Australia (which already accounts for more than half of the country’s wind farms), 825MW in Queensland (which has virtually nothing actually built), 90MW in Tasmania, and 85MW in New South Wales, there were no new publicly announced proposals involving wind farms in Victoria.

The ESOO document says there are 1,228MW of large-scale solar capacity announced, but some of these surely will not be developed. That includes the 250MW Solar Dawn proposal in Queensland, which could not meet funding requirements under the Solar Flagships program, and is now seeking money from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency.

Other proposals include the AGL Energy and First Solar project which picked up the funding from the flagships program, and will now build a 106MW plant at Nyngan and 53MW at Broken Hill. Also in ESOO’s list is a series of proposals from Infigen Energy, including the Capital Solar Farm (50 MW), Manildra Solar Farm (50 MW), the Nyngan Solar Farm (100 MW), and a new 180MW solar farm known as the Mildura project, although located in NSW.

Also included is the 154MW large-scale solar PV power plant proposed by Solar Systems, as is TRUenergy’s 180MW Mallee Solar Park, which was shortlisted under the Solar Flagships Program.