The largest wind farm in the Southern Hemisphere has begun feeding into Victoria’s electricity grid, powering homes and businesses with cheap and reliable renewable energy.
On Friday, October 11, Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio announced the powering up of the Golden Plains Wind Farm at Rokewood, which will be able to power 765,000 homes – or every home in regional Victoria – when fully operational.
Once complete, the 1.3 gigawatt wind farm will produce more than 4,000 gigawatt hours of energy each year and meet 9 per cent of Victoria’s current energy demand.
This will be supported by a 300 megawatt battery on site, that will soak up any excess energy and export it back to the grid when it is needed most.
“The Golden Plains Wind Farm will be able to power every regional Victorian home – delivering lower bills for Victorian families,” D’Ambrosio said.
“Victoria is the clean energy investment capital of Australia, and this project is another example of how Victoria’s ambitious renewable energy policies are creating jobs and driving the renewables sector.”
The Golden Plains Wind Farm created about 700 jobs during construction and will generate up to 70 full time ongoing jobs.
Since 2014, the Government has more than quadrupled the amount of power generated by wind farms and the share of electricity generated by renewables has increased from less than 10 per cent to 39 per cent last year.
Victoria has met every renewable energy and climate change target set to date and is on track to hit 40 per cent renewables by 2025, and 95 per cent by 2035.
Meeting Victoria’s renewable energy generation and energy storage targets will deliver $9.5 billion in economic activity and 59,000 jobs.
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