- Published:
- Wednesday 19 April 2017
Construction of the Mt Gellibrand wind farm began today, a project that will generate electricity to power more than 60,000 households.
The new 132MW windfarm, located 17km west of Winchelsea, is the result of the first round of successful tenderers in the Andrews Labor Government’s Renewable Certificate Purchasing Initiative (RCPI).
This will bring forward capital investment of around $258 million in the Mt Gellibrand Wind Farm.
The other wind farm being supported by the RCPI is the 30MW Kiata Windfarm which is already under construction northwest of Horsham.
The purchase of certificates directly from these two wind farms will create around 200 construction jobs.
Construction of the Mt Gellibrand wind farm is due to be completed by mid-2018.
In addition to this initiative, the Labor Government has set Victorian renewable energy generation targets of 25 per cent by 2020 and 40 per cent by 2025.
These targets will see an estimated $9 billion of investment and around 11,000 construction jobs created in Victoria's renewable energy sector over the period of the scheme.
Quotes attributable to Acting Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lisa Neville
“We’re supporting clean energy initiatives such as the Mt Gellibrand Wind Farm because it will deliver more than $200 million of new investment and create hundreds of local jobs.”
“Thanks to our support, the developer has now been able to secure investment in the full 132MW wind farm, which will local create jobs and bring forward a total investment of more than $250 million.”
Quote attributable to Victorian Renewable Energy Advocate Simon Corbell
“Through this initiative the Victorian Government is using its purchasing power as a large electricity consumer to boost investment in renewables and create new jobs for Victorians.”