Victoria fast tracks small wind and giant battery projects under new planning rules

A wind project and a big battery are the latest renewable energy proposals to be fast tracked under Victoria’s new streamlined development process.

The 40 megawatt (MW) Brewster wind farm near Beaufort in western Victoria, and the 400MW/1800MWh Baranduda battery energy storage system (BESS) near Wodonga in the east, can now expect a four month turnaround on a decision from planning authorities. 

The government says it has fast tracked some $1 billion of renewable energy projects since the sector was included in the Development Facilitation Program (DFP) in April 2024. 

The new rules don’t change the planning process, which still requires developers to consult with communities, but do create a four month deadline for planning decisions and remove the right for third parties to appeal to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

At the time the changes were made, premier Jacinta Allan said state statistics since 2015 showed renewable energy projects were facing average delays of two years and one in five approved renewable energy projects were going through VCAT. A majority of the VCAT decision upheld initial planning department decisions.

Australia developer RE Future is behind the six turbine Brewster wind farm, which has recently deleted one turbine from its project plans, but increased the size of the remaining towers to a maximum tip height of 252m, and moved two others further from neighbouring dwellings.

It’s close to three other operating wind farms in the area, with the 192MW Waubra wind farm 7 km to the north, the 528MW Stockyard wind farm 10 km to the south-west, and the mini 6.15MW Chepstowe wind farm is 15km away to the south. 

The Baranduda BESS is being developed by an Australian entity, Birdwood Energy on land leased at an industrial site. Construction is expected to take 18 months.

The $500 million battery will connect to the Wodonga terminal station, which is directly adjacent to the site, and have enough capacity to meet the evening peak demand needs of 140,000 households each year.

Fast tracking renewable energy projects will ultimately lead to cheaper power prices, planning minister Sonya Kilkenny said in a statement. 

Average wholesale power prices have been coming down in the last two years, according to an audit by the Queensland Audit Office last year. 

Queensland reaped the greatest benefit of a 39 per cent fall in wholesale power prices, which the state department attributed to rising renewable energy capacity, the federal price cap on coal, and a lack of one-off events such as natural disasters or the Callide coal power plant explosion.

But at a consumer level, those wholesale prices are muddied by rising transmission line costs which are passed on to individual electricity buyers rather than absorbed by the contractor. 

EnergyConnect between South Australia and New South Wales (NSW) has doubled in price, and the HumeLink connecting Snowy 2.0 to NSW is almost four-times what was originally proposed before construction starts.

In Victoria, energy minister Lily D’Ambrosio is focusing on the part the state can control. 

“Renewable energy is the cheapest form of new build energy available. That’s why we’ve cut red tape, making sure it can be built sooner, helping bring down power prices and create great new jobs for locals,” she said in a statement.

See also Renew Economy’s Big Battery Storage Map of Australia.