Victoria will have its first publicly owned windfarm after the government’s electricity commission spent $650m on a 33-turbine project in the Latrobe valley.
Construction of the Delburn windfarm is due to start in early 2026 and climate advocates said the purchase of the project by the State Electricity Commission marked a key turning point for a region known for its privately owned coal plants.
The commission said the project would be a “beacon for renewable energy generation investment” in the state’s traditional power generation base, and would produce enough power for 130,000 homes.
The commission was revived by the Andrews government in 2022 decades after its power generation assets were privatised.
The 205-megawatt capacity windfarm, to be delivered by developer OSMI Australia using turbines supplied and installed by Vestas, is expected to be in full operation by 2028.
The Victorian government said Delburn was the first windfarm project in the last year to reach financial close and the first publicly owned windfarm in the state.
Victoria’s energy and climate minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the state’s commission “is back, and it’s powering Gippsland’s future after Jeff Kennett sold it off for profits.”
She said all commission profits would be invested in further renewables projects.
The purchase of Delburn meant the commission now had more than a gigawatt of renewables projects – almost a quarter of the way to a 2035 target of 4.5GW renewable generation and storage.
Wendy Farmer, the Gippsland organiser of Friends of the Earth’s Yes2Renewables campaign, said the announcement signalled a new chapter for the region, “one of renewed public ownership, and renewal fairness.”
She said the 33 turbines would overlook the site of the old Hazelwood coal-fired power station and coalmine.
Hazelwood was closed in 2017 and its row of eight 137-metre tall chimney stacks – a prominent sight on the landscape since the 1960s – were demolished in 2020.
“You knew exactly where you were when you saw the Hazelwood stacks,” said Farmer.
“These new turbines will be a new marker on the landscape. People will be able to see that this place is changing. Across the Latrobe valley this will be an icon.”
The commission’s chief executive, Chris Miller, said: “The Latrobe Valley has been the engine of Victoria’s power system for more than a century, and we believe the region will play a critical role as Victoria transitions away from fossil fuels towards a system supplied by renewable generation, supported by storage.”
The commission said the windfarm would operate for at least 35 years and create more than 300 jobs for the region.
Earlier this month the commission marked the activation of its co-owned Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub – a 600MW battery and the largest to be connected so far to the country’s main eastern grid.
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