Victoria

The Victorian Government has taken the decision to pay rebates, under its Solar Homes package, to some 600 otherwise eligible households who installed solar PV systems but failed to follow the program’s procedure. 

Australian miner GBM Gold is planning to repurpose the Woodvale evaporation ponds near Bendigo in central Victoria and build a utility-scale solar farm. One part of the project will be a floating solar array.

After continued pressure from residents, the Andrews Government is set to make a decision on whether to include public housing tenants in its solar rebate scheme. The decision is pending publication of The Solar Opportunities for Public Housing Assets report expected later this month.

In a powerful demonstration of Australia’s energy transition, the Victorian State Coal Mine, a tourist attraction in the coastal town of Wonthaggi, is now powered by a solar and battery storage system.

Thirteen of Victoria’s water corporations have partnered to buy clean energy from the Kiamal Solar Farm in north-west Victoria, at a much cheaper rate than would be possible individually.

Construction has been launched on the 34.2 MW Cohuna Solar Farm, one of the three winning solar projects in the first Victorian renewable energy auction.

Due to the immense success of the program — and with rebates now almost fully subscribed — Solar Victoria will accept a final 2,000 applications before the end of June, the state government has announced. New solar rebates will be available in the next financial year.

Sometimes there are old solutions to new problems. But often the problem would be best avoided in the first place. The developers of one of Australia’s most ambitious solar and eventually battery storage projects encountered precisely this – as the rate of wind and large-scale solar development in Australia outstrips the capabilities of the grid, at least in some locations.

Following the decision to require retailers taking part in the Solar Homes program to be signatories to the Clean Energy Council’s Solar Retailer Code of Conduct, the Victorian government has set specific requirements for inverters that will be installed under the program.

The Victorian government is giving smaller solar installers eight months to sign up to the Clean Energy Council’s Solar Retailer Code of Conduct if they want to qualify for the Solar Homes program. For larger retailers, the deadline to become Approved Solar Retailers is July.