A major contract for a $450 million wind farm in Victoria shows the enthusiasm among investors for Australian renewable energy is strong following the vote to amend the Renewable Energy Target earlier this week, the Clean Energy Council said.
Clean Energy Council Chief Executive Kane Thornton said the pent-up investment that had been on hold across the country would finally be released now that bipartisan support for renewable energy had finally been restored to the RET.
"The Ararat Wind Farm is one of the early projects to move forward following the conclusion of the RET debate, and I would like to congratulate Clean Energy Council members RES, GE and Downer. The wind farm will create jobs and other flow-on benefits for regional Victoria," Thornton said.
"We expect that approximately $10 billion of investment and thousands of jobs will be created in large-scale wind and solar farms by the Renewable Energy Target over the next five years, as well as hundreds of medium-sized projects.
"These are the first green shoots for renewable energy in Australia as confidence begins to return to the sector following the passing of the RET legislation through Parliament on Tuesday night."
Thornton said the renewable energy industry in Australia had been "stuck on pause" for a long time, while investors waited for the right signals to back major projects.
"There is a lot of interest in our world-class sun, wind and waves from both domestic and international investors, and the good news is that Australia is open for business again," he said.
"The deal that was legislated earlier this week on the Renewable Energy Target returns bipartisan support to this promising sector and will lay the foundation for major investment in large-scale renewable energy over the next five years."
