State of Victoria to Establish Solar FIT

Under the plan, the Brumby Labor Government will contribute AUS $50 million towards the $450 million large-scale solar project being delivered by Silex, as well as the Premium Feed-in Tariff for Households as well as $100 million towards a Victorian Solar Flagships bid and the rollout of 10 projects from the $5 million Solar Hubs program announced in the Jobs For The Future Economy: Green Jobs Action Plan.

“This commitment to a sustainable future for Victoria should see the establishment of between five and 10 large solar plants across regional Victoria,” Brumby said. “As a result of this initiative, Victoria will have up to 25 per cent of its power coming from renewable energy by 2020. This initiative will also provide new economic opportunities in regional Victoria, generating between $1.5 and $2 billion in new solar investment in Victoria.”

Brumby said increasing Victoria’s use of solar power to five percent by 2020 would require a number of investments above and beyond the Commonwealth’s Renewable Energy Target.

“The feed-in tariff will assist in the take up of solar power by paying large-scale facilities extra money for feeding the renewable power they generate back into the grid above what they would normally get on the energy market. To show we’re serious about the 2020 goal, we have set an interim target of generating 500GWh of solar power by 2014."