Gannawarra Shire KERANG VICTORIA’S RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPITAL

Kerang – Gannawarra Shire Located in North West Victoria Typical small rural Shire with an agricultural economy Utilise our local environmental strengths for better commercial value

Policy Scene extract from Councils Economic Development Strategy – Strategic Direction 5 FACILITATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF GANNAWARRA SHIRE AS AN ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER Economic, climactic and policy influences continue to drive land use

High solar resources, infrastructure and land Why Solar? High solar resources, infrastructure and land

Infrastructure Kerang has the infrastructure suited to large scale solar A high capacity terminal station Transmission network 220kv / 66kv / 22kv High solar resource Available land

The Journey Begins …… Involvement with a Solar company in 2008 kick-starts the interest Huge learning curve with limited support The overseas experience highlighted the opportunities – Australia was 20 years behind!

Overcoming the Policy Gap Development potential; Why us? We are small so we provided “exceptional service” – we could control that We networked with anyone we thought could help. Community groups in central Victoria were helpful.

Overcoming the Policy Gap We needed to develop strong regional partnerships to lobby Government Renewable energy was a key part of our advocacy strategy We developed strategic partnerships with Loddon Shire and City of Greater Bendigo We developed a Solar Power Development strategy with our partners

Overcoming the Policy Gap The change started when the Renewable Energy Target figure (RET) was announced. Our previous work had set us up well and we hit the ground running. It was a hive of activity as developers sought land close to infrastructure

New Policy The RET created the positives The ARENA announcement for National funding saw NOTHING allocated to Victoria The negatives again hit the media

New Policy New policy at a State level with a 75MW power tender and a 20MW battery storage tender…… plus others

Present situation 9 projects and 5 with permits – others nearly ready to submit 640MW, 4500ac, $1.2B investment

Present situation 750 construction jobs & 24 perm jobs – based on 9 projects $38M construction revenue Rate revenue, leveraged business revenue, tourism revenue

The Future Transform the area as a hub for new energy developments Base load power, waste to energy Diversify our local economy Leverage further business related developments

Gannawarra Shire KERANG – Victoria’s RENEWABLE ENERGY CAPITAL