Our transition to renewable energy is supported by strong renewable energy and storage targets, creating significant opportunities for investors, industry and developers.
The Victorian Government is delivering a number of key initiatives to develop Renewable Energy Zones (REZ) and build a next-generation power grid to connect world-class renewable energy resources across our state.
Victoria’s energy sector is rapidly transforming as we move to low-emission, renewable energy sources to achieve our 2045 net-zero emissions goal. Our legislated renewable energy targets will assist in providing investment certainty to attract new energy projects, technologies and companies to the state.
Businesses and industry will play a key role in providing the investment and technology we need to transition.
A key part of VicGrid’s role is helping to enable investment in renewable energy generation that will secure Victoria’s energy future.
Ensuring the coordinated and strategic development of transmission infrastructure, addressing capacity constraints and ensuring reliable access to the network are all key areas of focus to attract investment in renewables.
VicGrid is working to attract investment in a number of different ways:
Potential investors in energy generation and infrastructure can get more information about investing in Victoria from DEECA’s Business and Industry Engagement team.
The Victorian Access Regime introduces a new approach to managing how energy generation and storage projects access Victoria’s electricity transmission network. It has been designed to improve certainty for investors and better coordinate how generators connect to the network, to reduce impacts on communities and the environment.
To deliver power to homes, businesses and essential services, energy generators must have a physical connection – also known as ‘access’ – to the electricity transmission network. Access to the network is different to ‘land access’. Land access may be managed by project proponents, whereby they negotiate access to private land through engagement with landholders and via land access agreements.
The existing open access regime gives new generators access to the grid, regardless of the impact on existing operators. This creates the risk of generators being required to limit their energy supply into the market when new generators connect nearby. We are putting in place the new Victorian Access Regime to give industry more certainty and attract investment in Victoria’s future Renewable Energy Zones (REZs).
The new access regime will also encourage more co-ordinated transmission network expansions to facilitate connection, reducing the social and environmental impact of developments. New generation will be charged access fees to recover administration costs and support new REZ Community Energy Funds and benefits for Traditional Owners as part of a drive to ensure the benefits of the energy transition are shared more fairly.
The Victorian Access Regime policy decision paper sets out the high-level framework for how generators will access the electricity transmission network and provides details on key features of the regime.
A copy of the paper and a summary factsheet are available below.
Legislation to enact the regime is expected to be introduced to Parliament in early 2025.
VicGrid will consult with the energy sector and other stakeholders on implementation of the Victorian Access Regime throughout 2024.
The new Victorian Access Regime is being designed to support Victoria while being ready to integrate with national reforms if and when they are ultimately adopted.
Access arrangements for offshore wind development in Victoria will be aligned with the new Victorian Access Regime. VicGrid will ensure that the access arrangements support Victoria’s offshore wind targets:
VicGrid will be the sole developer of the new shared transmission network infrastructure in Gippsland.
It is expected that current developers will:
As outlined in Implementation Statement 2, only generators using the VicGrid-developed connection points will have access to the Victorian Government’s offshore wind generation support package.
VicGrid and AEMO will run a competitive process to procure the necessary transmission infrastructure, with further information on the formal procurement process to be released in 2024.
It is expected that eligible entities aligned with the Victorian Government’s vision for coordinated transmission development in Gippsland will be invited to participate in this process.
Stakeholders that VicGrid will engage with include:
VicGrid will seek to establish a partnership approach with Traditional Owner groups.
VicGrid will undertake comprehensive community, Traditional Owner, and stakeholder engagement on the coordinated transmission solution until late 2023 – early 2024, which is when the business case on connection points and high-level route corridors for the new shared transmission infrastructure is expected to be finalised and approved by the Victorian Government.
After business case approval, VicGrid will continue to play a key role with both AEMO and the successful project developer.
Once the business case is approved, VicGrid and AEMO will run a competitive process to procure the necessary transmission infrastructure.
Once the preferred tenderer is selected, they will be responsible for engagement, with VicGrid jointly accountable for the engagement throughout the project lifecycle.
The energy infrastructure market is undergoing unprecedented change and demand.
At the same time, transmission needs to be built faster than ever before and recent experience in developing large, complex, transmission infrastructure in Victoria is limited.
VicGrid is engaging with the market to inform potential project development and procurement approaches.
For more information, please email vicgrid@deeca.vic.gov.au.
On 14 December, VicGrid held an industry briefing outlining market observations and our market engagement process for gathering insights on key risks, industry perspectives and market interest in delivering transmission infrastructure.
A copy of the presentation slides are available below.
An accessible version of the slides are available on request.
Page last updated: 19/11/24