Swedish solar developer OX2 has been contracted by Victoria’s State Electricity Commission (SEC) in Australia to deliver a 100% state government-owned 119MW solar-plus-storage project.
The AU$370 million (US$240 million) SEC Renewable Energy Park, which will include a 119MW solar PV plant coupled with a co-located 100MW/200MWh 2-hour duration battery energy storage system (BESS), is being developed in the regional city of Horsham, around 300km northwest of state capital Melbourne.
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It is hoped the SEC Renewable Energy Park will come online in 2027 and will primarily be used to supply 100% renewable electricity to Victorian government schools, hospitals and offices.
Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, highlighted the importance of the SEC’s work, stating that it is all about “giving power and profit back to the people”.
Indeed, the project will enable communities in Victoria to benefit financially from cleaner electricity. The SEC, which is an entity owned by the state government, will set up a community benefits fund and will work with the community to invest AU$42,000 a year back into the local area during the project’s construction and a further AU$70,000 every year once the project is operational.
OX2, which was recently acquired by investment firm EQT, will construct the SEC Renewable Energy Park. The developer has recently sold over 250MW of solar PV in Australia; two projects – a 106MWp site in Victoria and a 31MWp project in New South Wales – were sold to European Energy and another 119MW site went to an undisclosed buyer.
This becomes SEC’s second investment in Victoria’s renewable energy sector, the first being the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub. This complex includes a 12.5MW solar PV plant and a co-located 1,200MW/2,400MWh BESS, which will be constructed across two phases and will cost around AU$1 billion.
As reported by our sister site Energy-Storage.news, construction on the Melbourne hub started in early September 2024, with the first 444 Tesla Megapack battery components having been installed.
The Victorian government confirmed that construction on the Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub recently reached the halfway point.
Revitalisation of Victoria’s SEC
The SEC previously had a major role in Victoria’s energy sector, being the sole agency for generation, transmission, distribution and supply, before it was privatised by former Victoria premier Jeff Kennett and the Liberal Party in 1994.
This led to the SEC being divided into five distribution and retail companies, five generation companies and a transmission organisation.
However, in 2022, Daniel Andrews, who served as premier of Victoria between 2014 and 2023, and leader of the Labor Party, pledged to revive the SEC as part of the party’s election manifesto to support the state’s goal of achieving 95% renewable energy by 2035.
Last month, the ‘Constitution Amendment (SEC) Bill 2023’ passed the Victorian Parliament. It enshrines the SEC in the constitution and guarantees future public ownership of renewable energy assets.
Lily D’Ambrosio, Victoria’s minister for the state electricity commission, believes the SEC Renewable Energy Park and Melbourne Renewable Energy Hub developments will put the SEC back on the Victoria energy map.
“This will give the SEC the certainty it needs to power on with Victoria’s renewable energy transition, putting the power back in the hands of Victorians, creating thousands of jobs and slashing power bills,” D’Ambrosio said.
