Victoria’s initial progress as an early mover to clean energy is to be commended but there is a chance this early progress will be lost as the transition to clean energy slows. It is essential that any regulatory or policy framework adequately support investment in new renewable energy projects.
CEC supports the idea of having a proportion of proponent-provided benefits being pooled for the purpose of delivering more transformational/legacy benefits where it makes sense to do so, such as areas with multiple projects and when funding is delivered by proponents.
With the above in mind CEC does not support the mandated Community Energy Fund as proposed in the draft plan as it is not delivered by proponents, dilutes the relationship between proponents and community stakeholders and access fee contributions are unclear.
Any additional funds levied on projects or transmission must balance the need for the transition to deliver low cost electricity to consumers and for it to happen at pace. Further considerations are that (1) development of renewable energy projects is getting more expensive, (2) most proponents already deliver sizable project-level benefit-sharing funds and (3) the Payment in Lieu of Rates (PiLoR) scheme results in developers in Victoria contributing more funds to councils than anywhere else in the country.
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