New wind and solar registrations have doubled in Victoria.

Investment in wind and solar farms continued at record levels in Victoria in 2020, with 1,146 megawatts (MWs) of new renewable projects registered for connection into the National Electricity Market (NEM).

Across all states in the NEM last year, 32 projects totalling nearly 3,301 MWs completed registration. These projects equate to approximately 5.8 per cent of current NEM generation capacity.

Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) Chief Systems Design Officer, Dr Alex Wonhas, says AEMO sees no sign of this accelerated growth in renewables slowing to slow.

“We’ve seen registrations of new wind and solar projects in Victoria more than double from 467 MWs in 2019 to 1,146 MW in 2020, despite the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic and the issues in the West Murray zone,” Dr Wonhas said.

“We expect registrations to further increase in 2021, with 2,000 MW of new wind, solar and battery storage projects forecast,” he said.

Victoria has the strongest connection pipeline of any NEM state with 32,800 MWs across 131 projects in the connection pipeline. 

This is 80 per cent more capacity than the next biggest state, New South Wales, with 8,100 MW across 52 projects that are in the application or completion process.