Works have commenced on the Delburn wind farm near the Latrobe Valley as the Victorian wind industry shows renewed signs of life.
Five 130,000-litre firefighting water tanks are being installed before construction gets underway next month, with OSMI Australia developing Delburn alongside local contractor Delta Group and UK-headquartered RES. Vestas is supplying 33 wind turbines for the project.
Once operational in 2028, Delburn will deliver 205 megawatts (MW) of electricity to the National Electricity Market (NEM). The project underpins a growing model in Victoria and Australia more broadly, where state-owned companies are becoming increasingly involved in renewable energy projects.
Owning 100 per cent of Delburn, SEC owns Horsham’s SEC Renewable Energy Park in Horsham in its entirety and holds a 38.5 per cent stake in the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub (MREH) near Melbourne.
CS Energy is a Queensland Government-owned gentailer with increasing involvement in renewable energy, with development advancing at its 100-per-cent-owned Lotus Creek wind farm and part-owned Boulder Creek wind farm. CS acquired the $1.3 billion Lotus Creek wind project in August 2024.
Elsewhere, the Federal Government owns 100 per cent of Snowy Hydro, while Hydro Tasmania is fully owned by the Tasmanian Government. These are just a few renewable energy ventures where government entities are playing a role.
SEC is providing important capital for Victorian renewable energy projects, in some cases expediting project timelines as a result. This was the case with the MREH.
“There were two ways we thought we could help improve the MREH,” SEC executive general manager – assets Lane Crockett told Energy.
“One was by bringing our equity to bring it to market more quickly. The other was to upsize the third battery from two hours to four hours in duration and commit to 100 per cent of the offtake from that.”
The $1.1 billion MREH, which was connected to the grid in December and is operating at its full 600MW capacity, was delivered on time and on budget. The asset boasts 444 Tesla Megapack battery units to provide 1.6 gigawatt hours of storage capacity.
Delburn’s milestone this week follows the Kentbruck green power hub in Victoria, which includes a 600MW wind farm, receiving ministerial approval in January.
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