113 GWh Annual RE Procurement Tender In Melbourne

• The City of Melbourne has announced the second renewable energy tender under its MREP II round
• Under this, a group of seven large energy users will seek to procure 113 GWh of collective clean power from a renewable energy project in Victoria
• It builds on MREP I when an 80 MW wind farm was approved to provide electricity to a group of 14 entities
• Another Australian state of NSW has launched its electricity strategy under which it plans to establish a 3 GW renewable energy zone on a pilot basis

Seven large energy users in the city of Melbourne in Australia are collectively seeking to procure 113 GWh of clean power annually from a large scale renewable energy project in Victoria. To facilitate this, the City of Melbourne is launching its second tender as part of its Melbourne Renewable Energy Project (MREP).

In the first MREP round, 80 MW wind farm of Pacific Hydro at Crowlands near Ararat was approved in March 2018 to serve the electricity needs of a consortium of 14 universities, cultural institutions, corporations and councils with 88 GWh of annual power supply, while the remaining electricity is being fed into the grid.

The second round has RMIT University, Deakin University, Cbus Property, ISPT Property, Fulton Hogan, Citywide Asphalt and Mondelez International forming the consortium seeking 113 GWh of clean power supply.

"All these organisations have an organisational commitment to emissions reduction, carbon neutrality or renewable energy purchasing," said City of Melbourne Deputy Lord Mayor Arron Wood.

RenewEconomy reported the tender details were revealed only to a closed group of all eligible retailers in Victoria and that the renewable energy could either come from an existing or new project or could be met through a number of renewable projects.

Another Australian state, New South Wales (NSW) has revealed big plans for renewable energy with the decision to invest in Renewable Energy Zones starting with a 3 GW pilot zone in the its central-west region. The state government in its NSW Electricity Strategy document announced it will launch expressions of interest for the market to invest in these zones.

The government will facilitate with regulatory support to incentivise generators to cover part of the cost of building new transmission for these zones.

For a state that relies on coal-fired power generation for 80% of its electricity needs, this is a huge step. The strategy takes into account the fact that four out of its five remaining coal-fired power plants are due to retire in 2035, beginning with Liddell Power Station in April 2023. As of October 2019, NSW had over 100 private sector proposals to build large renewable generating stations which if built will add up to 17.7 GW of new capacity.