Victorian government removes ‘embarrassing’ offshore wind paper from its website
EXCLUSIVE
By RACHEL BAXENDALE An energy industry expert says he believes the Allan government has removed an offshore wind policy directions paper from its website because it makes “embarrassing statements”, including that “up to 70 per cent” of Victoria’s agricultural land could be required for wind and solar farms if the offshore alternative is not used. The March 2022 paper has disappeared from the Department of Energy Environment and Climate Action’s website, prompting Centre for Independent Studies energy program director Aidan Morrison to suggest that the government is trying to hide a document which highlights the massive challenge Victoria faces in meeting its target of 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035, and net zero by 2045. The government’s target at the time the paper was published was a slightly less ambitious net zero by 2050, with the paper predicting that it would require “the construction of unprecedented amounts of renewable energy in Victoria — more than 15 times today’s installed renewable capacity according to the current best estimate.” Despite Victoria’s 2022 “integrated system plan” for renewable energy forecasting that just over 40GW of renewable energy generation would be required to reach net zero by 2050, the paper states that “grid scale wind and solar capacity must rise exponentially” – to “60GW+ potentially” to reach the target.
“Analysis indicates that to meet net-zero targets using onshore renewables could require up to 70 per cent of Victoria’s agricultural land to host wind and solar farms,” the paper states.
