Victoria fast-tracks approval of major solar farm and battery following federal auction win

A 330 megawatt solar farm and two-hour big battery proposed for regional Victoria has been given the green light by the state planning department, just a few months after being named as a winner in Australia’s largest ever renewable energy tender.

Victorian planning minister Sonya Kilkenny said on Friday she had fast-tracked the approval for the Barwon Solar Farm, and the 250 megawatt (MW), 500 megawatt-hour (MWh) battery energy storage system proposed for construction by Elgin Energy in Little River, north of Geelong.

The project in December was named as one of 19 winners in the first large-scale auction of federal Labor’s Capacity Investment Scheme, the Albanese government’s main policy initiative to help propel the country towards its target of 82 per cent renewables by 2030.

Victoria’s Allan Labor government last year expanded the state’s Development Facilitation Program to include renewable energy projects, making them eligible for an accelerated pathway, and removing the planning panel process and third-party appeals.

Premier Jacinta Allan said the changes aimed to avoid leaving important projects tied up for years in the approvals process – at that time, there was around $90 billion worth of investment value in renewable projects backed up in the state’s renewable energy development pipeline.

A March 2024 Clean Energy Australia report revealed that of the 22 large-scale solar and wind projects completed nationally in 2023, only four were in Victoria – two solar farms and two wind farms. The state, which is targeting a 65 per cent renewables share of the grid by 2030 and 95 per cent by 2035, is currently sitting at just under 40 per cent.

In February 2024, Elgin Energy removed around 11ha of solar panels to retain 18 trees, including 4 small trees and 14 large mature trees, in consultation with the state’s environment department, to better protect local Black Falcon populations.

“It’s vital that we find the right balance between generating more renewable energy, protecting our environment and addressing community concerns around renewable energy projects,” a spokesperson for the Department of Transport and Planning said at the time.

“That’s why we rigorously assess these projects before approvals are granted.”

The Barwon solar farm and battery must still receive federal environmental approval, through the EPBC Act, before it can go ahead, after it was determined as a controlled action by the federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek in February of 2024.

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*An earlier version of this article mistakenly confused the Barwon Solar Farm and battery with the Little River battery energy storage project (BESS). These two projects are not connected.