The Victorian government will spend $370m to build a massive solar and battery farm able to power more than 50,000 homes, which it says will be the first state government-owned energy project since the electricity grid was privatised in the 1990s.
Jacinta Allan announced the new project in Horsham, in Victoria’s west, which is the second investment made by the government-owned State Electricity Commission.
The project – dubbed the SEC Renewable Energy Park – will include a 119-megawatt (MW) solar facility and a 100MW two-hour battery, which will be built near the Horsham substation and existing transmission line.
The project, initially known as the Horsham Solar Farm, had been “won” at a Victorian government renewable energy auction in 2022, but was yet to be built when the SEC took it over the contract.
The government has added the battery component to the scope of the project, which it said would enable the farm to store power until it’s ready to be fed into the grid during periods of high demand.
On Wednesday, Allan said the project was expected to generate 242,000MW hours of renewable energy a year once complete in 2027. It will have a lifespan of 30 years.
“That can support 51,000 homes – roughly five times the size of Horsham. Or if you need another great regional city as a point of comparison, the size of Bendigo can be generated off a solar renewable energy project of this size and scale,” the premier said.
She said the SEC will retain 100% ownership of the park, making it the first government-owned energy generator in Victoria in decades.
“This is a big moment – a big moment for the generation of renewable energy in our state, but also a big moment in terms of putting power back into the hands of the Victorian community [and putting] people ahead of profits.”
The energy minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said all profits made by the SEC through the project would be reinvested into other renewable energy projects. A community fund would also be set up specifically for Horsham residents.
She said $42,000 a year would be spent in the local area during the project’s construction, and a further $70,000 every year once the project is operational.
Labor had pledged to revitalise the SEC, which had been the sole agency for electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply, before it was privatised in the 1990s.
The SEC was provided with an initial investment of $1bn to deliver 4.5 gigawatts of renewable energy, which the government said was enough to offset the closure of the coal-fired Loy Yang A power station, planned for 2035.
The then premier Daniel Andrews said a government-owned energy provider would create downward pressure on power bills, cut emissions and create 60,000 jobs.
Its first investment was $245m for a major share of a battery farm in Melbourne’s western suburbs.
However, the opposition remains skeptical the SEC would ultimately bring prices down.
“[The government has] no idea about how the profit is going to be made and no idea how it’s going to bring down prices,” said the deputy Liberal leader, David Southwick.
“That’s what Victorians want right now. We are in a cost of living crisis, we need prices bought down.”
